Ann: Priority Offer Closing Date Extended-NOR.AX, page-99

Gday Elee

Actually that's a very good question and one that clearly the market today has not understood either.

1. As webbj pointed out on an earlier thread roaming costs are on the way down at the moment not up.

However if you look at the fine print our friends at optus and telstra are still doing price gauging. . I was in New zealand for 2 weeks last year and got served with $300 + phone and roaming bill when a few business issues popped up unexpectedly. There are better pre paid packages but again they don't come close to what an OTT can offer. Save a bundle by getting a prepaid 4g data only sim and call away.

2. As world phone grows and users get their friends on it if your in wifi zone then your o/s call becomes completely free. if your not you can still call landlines or mobiles in super high quality at 4 cents a minute. see how that compares to your sim roaming charges. Sure skype does this too but not at the same quality.

3. If your doing business in other countries or making friends you can rent a local line cheap just for the time your there and they call you for the same price as a local call. This is why US world figures are pretty good.

The stumbling block for world phone as a consumer app in my opinion is that is lacks one critical feature. Your contacts in Australia can't reach you on your old Australian number. If NOR were to introduce a call forwarding feature to world phone when your OS I think this would dramatically increase it's uptake.

But as I have said before I think NOR's short and medium term future should be concentrated on supporting and marketing its corporate solutions. There is less competition in the space than consumer apps.