http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27285787
Tesco to launch own-brand smartphone this year

Tesco is to launch its first own-brand smartphone by the end of the year.

The BBC understands the phone will run Google's Android software, and the specification will be comparable to phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Interesting. i guess looking at the Cyanogen there is space for a high spec phone at a more reasonable price.

niiice, hopefully I'll be able to get staff discount

Hudl 2 comes out in September too.

I got £50 off my Note 3. That 10% is very handy on larger purchases along with £5 worth of club card points.

Given the success of the Hudl tablet I can see this smartphone doing very well, too.

The smartphone is expected to be comparable to the higher-end of the market - but aggressively priced.

I guess £250 to £300 then?!

Aggressive to your wallet or aggressive to their competitors?

Juicy

Could they hit 199 I wonder?

Either way it's one to look out for....

Tesco won't have the brand, even with huge spends on advertising and pushes in store, to sell a smartphone for too much money - so it would probably be better off thinking more like the Moto G, than a Nexus 5. Sub £200 might work, but I'd be thinking Tesco would probably be favouring £100-150 for the maximum impact.

Clearly Tesco has its in-store phone shops and could sell a higher spec model on contract, which might enable it to push the boundaries a bit further, but I'd still say a prepay model would be vital and the preferred option for a lot of its customers.

but they are saying it will be high end.

we will see i guess.

Consider it as a souped up Clubcard designed to suck you into the Tescosphere and knows more about you than you do yourself and for which you will be paying a lot of money for that "privilege" and you won't be far off the truth.

I don't know what you base that one given Tesco is one of the largest retailers in Britain, the only reason the Hudl did so well was down to the marketing and brand of Tesco PLC. Tesco whether you think otherwise is always at a huge advantage due to its Clubcard scheme, having access to constantly live information about its customers allows them to find the right target and price range. They clearly feel its an area they can exploit.....If you are so unsure of the branding, one need only look at Motorola who effectively mopped up 6% of the market in less that 4 months with very little marketing spend. Tesco has the benefit of being visible everywhere....so one can only assume they will do well.

High end is open to interpretation though. Tesco could source a phone with a 1280x720 pixel screen and a quad-core processor, plus a 8 or 13MP camera, and that could be considered high end by many.

Yet, depending on the components used, I am sure that could be put into a device that Tesco could sell for £150 or perhaps even less. I'm pretty sure you can buy a MediaTek SoC for very little money, although it may not have quite the same performance as others - but it will still tick the boxes.

Given its price, the Moto G should be considered a real low-end phone, but it punches way above its weight. I'd predict Tesco would be thinking nearer to the Moto G, and working up as far as it can for a specific price.

For one, the huge success of the Moto G shows that Tesco could really shift a lot of stock at a lower price, than trying to use its name to compete against the Galaxy S5, Z2, M8 etc.

Even if it offered a Galaxy S5 matching device for £200, would the type of person who wants a S5 go with a Tesco phone? I think not, so it makes more sense for Tesco to target the rest of the market that wants an affordable phone, but has (until the Moto G) usually been forced to buy something that was underpowered and hugely disappointing.

If suggest waiting until the technistii have rooted it as they have done for the Hudl.

I have seen this very thing happen several times in the past, specifically with the iPhone and individuals choosing cheaper Android handsets, I suppose ZTE Blade kicked it off. People are very much price conscious, time and again smartphones have launched which have undercut the competition and been an incredible success. I don't see this being any different with Tesco.

Tesco has the buying power and market share to be able to exploit smartphone market in this way, hence why it makes good business sense for them to launch their own handset. I suspect they will take a chinese model and brand it as their own, EE has just done the same with their Kestrel device, though I am unsure how successful that has been.

Simply put if people can see they get the same high end features for half the price of an S5 they will choose the former. I have witnessed this myself having worked within the industry....the days of the flagship are declining, bottom and mid end is where the market is heading, I suspect towards the end of this year we will begin to see hardware similar to S5, Z2 etc.... will come in at mid range price levels.

I've heard EE has had some stock issues, but the Kestrel is a Huawei-made device and therefore of a pretty high standard. It hasn't been on sale long to know how well it has been doing.

I still think the next affordable products from Motorola/Lenovo will be worth looking at. In fact, we only have to wait until next week to see at least one new device - possibly more. And the Moto G is still just as good value a purchase now as it was six months ago when launched (in my opinion).

Tesco clearly isn't going to make its own device, just as it didn't with the Hudl, but what Tesco did do (and the likes of Argos didn't) is have a requirement for a good specification, not just a really low-end device thrown into a nice looking case and sold to people that don't know any better.

I guess Tesco knows it can't afford to p**s off its customers for the long-term, whereas the crappy Argos tablet (that was later withdrawn as it wasn't even using licensed apps!) was like giving the finger to all of its customers.

I'm not sure you're right. it's conjecture obviously.

it seems unlikely that your speculation about tesco's customer base is more informed than theirs. if there is one thing that tesco do better than anyone else, it's know their customers.

i understand what you are saying regarding people who want an S5 not being the same as people who want a tesco phone. but i don't think you are right. i think you are thinking of you, your mates, and people who post on forums about mobile phones. in the most part, for most people, if they can offer a phone that is as good as the S5 but £300 cheaper, that is real money that people will want to save. i think anyway.

it is interesting whether or not it will be mediatek.

I ran my own business selling mobiles for almost ten years, so I do have some insight into different types of customer, from the young to old, unemployed, students, affluent people, plus local authorities, emergency services and businesses.

Not everyone needs a phone with the performance of a GS5 but they'll buy it, or an iPhone, as much for the brand as anything else (not all, obviously). That's why I don't think Tesco can compete in that space, and I'd be pretty certain Tesco has thought that too.

But I obviously don't know, yet the Hudl proves my point. It was advertised in a way to appeal to those who aren't tech focussed or swayed by big brands, and want good value.

Thus I feel fairly confident that it won't be a flagship buster, but following the same strategy as the Hudl. A device punching above its weight and exceptionally good value.

Dont worry, just add a tin-foil hat to your basket when buying their new phone!!

For best protection I get my tin-foil from M&S.

jon I would agree with you if the news was just that Tesaco were planning to release a phone. However they have stated it will be comparable to phones like the S5 but cheaper. We have to take them at their word. OnePlus have shown you can build a phone at this level and make a profit (or at least hope to make a profit) for £239.

'Comparable specs' can be interpreted in a number of ways.

Similar size full HD screen thats of similar quality or a similar size full HD screen thats total junk.

2GHz plus quad core CPU of similar power, or a low end Mediatek 2GHz quad core thats got less processing power than an old Chinese man with an abacus?

I am betting it will be a special edition of this.
http://www.archos.com/gb/products/sm...gen/index.html

Remembering that Tesco cleverly halved clubcard points, it should be another 'doubled up clubcard points' buy or a decent Tesco mobile contract buy.

Maybe. I don't have a clue who they'll use to built it, but there's no shortage of manufacturers in China that will build anything you want for whatever price you want.

I just hope that Tesco will aim high in terms of specs, unlike some of its rivals that still go with the cheap dross that are an insult to their customers.