Thursday 20 September 2007

The Du Test

So Du announced it has reached 850,000 subscribers this week. I do find that interesting in view of the continuing consistency of the results I am receiving from applying The Du Test.

The Du Test is designed to gain a holistic view of the comparative penetration of mobile operators in a given market as a ratio of deployed client side devices in customers’ terminal prehensile upper organs. See?

It consists of giving your mobile number to people without the prefix that the TRA has insisted on introducing to differentiate the two operators. Etisalat’s is 050, Du’s is 055. So you talk to a hotel reservation service, or the electronics shop to arrange a delivery, or the bank to complain (invariably) or the taxi company. And you give your number as the last seven digits only.

Now, if something like a fifth of all people in the UAE (pre-amnesty) are using a Du mobile, you’d expect at least one of those conversations to contain the words: “Is that 050 or 055, sir?”

And not one, not.one, has done so yet.

Nobody I know uses a Du mobile. Some people registered and bought the sim because they could. Others bought in and rejected the service. But nobody I know, personally or professionally, uses it.

Where are they, then? Hands up, you 850,000 brave subscribers! Be heard! Wear it on your shirts with pride! Let us know that you DO du! Run round the malls singing Dudududududududuuu at the top of your voices!

Hmmm. Funny. Silence so far...

9 comments:

DXBluey said...

I bought a SIM when the launched for visitors to use as their mobile. The coverage was terrible.

The only person I personally know that uses a Du mobile is the content manager for.... oh.... Du.

Sherif Abaza said...

Hehe....your song is missing 2 "du's"

it's

dudududududududududuuuu

Alexander said...

You COUNTED?

Madman...

i*maginate said...

LOL

I know about 3-4 people who use Du.

I never had confidence in their services upon their launch and glad I chose not to subscribe. I don't have any problems whatsoever with my Etisalat mobile, so why bother changing?! Extra work and hassle, and plus, I've probably SAVED myself the extra hassle of having had to deal with du!

And p.s. what a waste of money to advertise du when I've already spelt it with a capital "d" and so has the first commenter on this post.

Pathetic!

Anonymous said...

I use du....
I like it actually. services are pre-activated on my phone, and it's easy...

I agree though about the coverage, but it got so much better than when i first bought it when they launched.

I didn't have any problems with etisalat either - a part that they charge you for every tiny teenee service (activation, subscription, deactivation, call waiting, etc etc)..

but i like my du. and i like their colors. i think they really did color the city.

oh well... it's just a mobile phone.

Anonymous said...

I like my du too... Unlike etisalat i could get and use 3G services from day one and all value added services were pre activated. The MyWorld portal is completely free to access and is a host of information... I download the latest tunes, get cool funky images ... yeah its nice.

I got free tickets to Spider-Man 3 and yes their colors are lovely too.. Its got Life... no wonder they say "add life to life"

Agree with the coverage but then thats improved a lot over the past few months... It can only get better and better from here...

Anonymous said...

Oh DU be serious!!! All those from Du's advertising agency please raise your hands!

I did have three 055 numbers in my mobile's address book for people who switched to Du, but now they've all switched back and since I have no Du employees programed in my phone, all the 400-odd UAE contacts in my mobile are now 050 numbers.

I guess all my friends must be colour-blind...

Anonymous said...

well, here's a piece of advice: Don't get your dads a Du number if they ever visit the UAE! i fell for the AED 1 campaign and decided to get my old man a du number! and guess what: our line for the time he was visiting was:
Dad, du doesn't do!
no one was able to reach him most of the time!
btw- i still have it with me if anyone is interested in paying 2 dirhams to take it (100% profit wow!).

Anonymous said...

The only good DU has done was to support the amazing TV series Freej. Forget the complete mess of a mobile phone network. Talk to anyone who lives in the projects (oh, sorry, I meant the incredible real estate developments on the coast of Dubai), and ask them about getting an Internet connection out there. Not a pleasant experience by any means.

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