By Aye P Ubaldo
A Friday night to kick of a three-day weekend is a traffic magnet. But to Globe Telecom, this meant a good captive audience at the Digital Lifestyle Expo at the Mega Fashion Hall. One of the country’s leading telcos, Globe continues its Wonder World with Globe series intent on capturing the mobile and digital lifestyle, and making it available to every smartphone user.
At the event last August 22, Peter Bithos, Globe Telecom Chief Operating Advisor, launched a host of services that would surely give a lot of users greater access to mobile and digital activities. According to Bithos, only 5 million Filipinos have credit cards. Those that do not have one are being hindered from making mobile and online purchases.
In response, Globe Telecom began partnering with the biggest publishers and producers of the coolest stuff online. Starting with Facebook last year, enabling Globe to offer free Facebook to its subscribers, followed by Viber. Recently, Globe offered its subscribers access to millions of music titles on mobile via Spotify.
Now, add Google to that list. Said Bithos, “Globe is establishing deep-rooted partnerships. With Google, purchases can be made without credit card. Just a Globe SIM, and Globe load, and with a simple click, you can buy in real time. All charges will reflect on your post-paid account, or load.
Here’s another first in the Philippines, the Globe Cloud. This service removes the need of a smart devise, and is available on any screen, on 2G or 3G. The service can be downloaded via the App Store or GooglePlay.
“Every single Filipino can back up, download, and start sharing their life,” added Bithos.
Globe offered GMovies to subscribers two months earlier, but this has since leveled up, removing the need to print the tickets bought online. The service is now available at any Ayala cinema anywhere in the Philippines.
Something to make hardcore gamers fall down to their knees in prayer, perhaps, is another new service. With GCash American ExpressR Virtual, gamers need only to download Xbox and PlayStation and play on without any need of credit cards.
Now one would think that these benefits are just for Globe subscribers, right? But, one would be wrong. This latest batch of cool services is open to subscribers of all mobile providers. Anybody in the Philippines can use the Globe services and can buy anything in GooglePlay.
The market is awash with mobile brands offering affordable smartphones, and telcos offering good value packages. Mobile penetration is on the rise. However, most users are not able to maximize the capabilities of their smartphones simply because they do not know how, or they do not know what is available to use.
During the event, discussions focused on Create and Share, and Work and Play where experts from media, business and digital technologies shared many experiences on mobile, how apps work to ease daily transactions, and enable mobile shopping.
“The strategy for Globe is user experience and service. We have almost 3 million postpaid subscribers and 45 million users, and we are continuing to grow the business,” shared Yoly Crisanto, Globe Telecom Head of Corporate Communications.
“We really study how the consumer experience really is. We use business intelligence to really get insights,” Crisanto added.
“We’re working hard to make your digital life better. We’re finding your pain points and making that better,” said Bithos.
