Who put the mob in mobile phones?
Last time I was in Switzerland I bought one of the stylish new M-Budget Mobile phones by Migros, the biggest retailer in Switzerland. Not that I particularly needed another one, but when I heard that the two biggest retailers (Migros and Coop) were each about to offer a budget mobile phone service I couldn't resist.
Also, Migros' line of budget products with its cheap(ish) styling has become sort of a cult in Switzerland. Affluent people used to shy away from those products because buying Budget might make them look poor but now it's hip. There are even rumours that the Budget style is being pilfered to style Web sites and Blogs.
Anyway, so I went with the mob and bought an M-Budget Sony Ericsson T290i with SIM card and CHF 10.- worth of calls for only CHF 58.80. Calls cost CHF 0.44 per minute, and an SMS only CHF 0.10. Hover for currency conversion
The whole launch business, by the way, was quite funny because the two retailers announced their intentions about the same time, however Coop's rate was initially lower than that of Migros, so the latter had to lower theirs in turn before the ink on their adverts was even dry. So there you go. I've got two mobile phones now when I rarely need even one.
