Direct Relationship with Apple (+resulting possibilities)
amy_b_d
Hi guys,
As there is bound to be a new iPhone in a years time(1) and in the future there may also be yet smaller SIMs than the coming nano SIM(2) or maybe something totally groundbreaking and new that networks need to know about(3), I think it may be time that giffgaff get's hold of Apple and requests to be updated about coming features of product releases before the product announcement so their customers are not to be left potentially for months without required items to use their device (like the nano SIMs(4) and instead can have what they need as soon as shipping happens.
I thought of this as the latest blog post(4) stated the following:
"since we do not have a direct relationship with Apple, we have been acting on assumptions and rumours like everyone else until yesterday"
Basically saying that Apple do not tell giffgaff about features which will be in the latest devices (probably because they don't sell iDevices). This is also occuring with other companies (not just mobile netorks) and they too do not find out about new features which could have a bad affect on their business (in giffgaff's case: lose of many customers, less people suggesting the network and looking bad to others not being upto speed with technology)
Now, I appreciate this may not be very easy to do as "giffgaff don't sell iPhones and Apple won't benefit so they don't bother to tell them etc..." or what ever the reason is but maybe giffgaff could come up with some other arrangment with Apple. Maybe one of the following just for example:
Agree with Apple on how many devices on the network are the latest version so Apple know that giffgaff will be helping them grow and it would be benefitial to tell them of latest features which could affect them
Agree with Apple that O2 can tell them as they are an MVNO
Pay a small fee to get info (maybe not the best but possibility as giffgaff would then be prepared)
giffgaff could sell the iPhone 5 and future versions as they are likely to sell and as I have been told, Apple only care about those who sell it so this could be easier etc, etc, there are dozens of things that potentially giffgaff could agree with Apple on so they benefit on information when it's announced to big companies, just like other networks and make sure that they keep it all secret.
Why do this?
As we know, giffgaff are going to take a couple of months to get the nano SIMs needed (evidently too late for the release of the iPhone 5) but if they got told in advance (say when the other networks found out) next time then maybe they would be ready with the necesary technology for these devices and save losing customers and not benefit from the millions of devices to be bought which could use giffgaff.
It's clear that this major phone release was missed by giffgaff (not having SIMs needed) but next year or the year after when the next breakthrough, network dependent, technology is brought to a phone giffgaff need to be ready (so they can benefit from keeping customers and gsining more!) and will know just like the other networks.
Also, after the release and people have chosen wheher to go to another network who provides nano SIMs, giffgaf could show stats of how much (or maybe little they lost (although would be pointless in that case)) they lost by being kept in the dark to Apple to help them maybe be recognised and be updated from them to save them next time!
EDIT: As some comments have mentioned, having a relationship with Apple could also lead to:
Having asigned giffgaff internet profile on iPhone
Possibly hot spot tethering
Possibly visual voicemail
having the name giffgaff at the top of the iPhone instead of O2 UK
voicemail button could work
Cheers,
Jamie
Please support by clicking the gold star 
(1),(2),(3),(4) within spoiler
(1)iPhone 6?
(2)diddy SIM or picco SIM?
(3)injected SIMs or network run trackers/identities? (who knows with Apple!)
(4)read the latest blof post for information regarding nano SIMs taking a few months to come here: http://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Blog/giffgaff-nan
Great news that this is now an implemented part of giffgaff for all of us! Thank you for the continuous support and feedback on this idea, it has been great and overall has had a great end result!
[Edited: Resolved HTML issue]
As part of giffgaff’s ethos of being environmentally friendly, I feel that the idea to change how we look at our SIM packaging is required. My focus in this idea is the plastic SIM holder users receive to show the activation code, and then house the SIM.
What can be done?
It’s simple, this extra space is not needed at all, and we could shrink the plastic holder by half and still have sufficient space needed for the plastic holder to serve its purpose. Shrinking this would make things different; only one other network orange has done this, as you will see with the image below:
What would this mean for giffgaff?
- Half the amount of waste
- Would make the company more sustainable, and a much greener business
- Would expand on giffgaff’s ethos of being green, and efficient
- Would reduce the weight of SIM packages
- Enable giffgaff to ship more SIMs per envelope
- Overall, the production costs would be far less than producing SIM cases double the size.
If we was to reduce the Size of the SIM package, it would indeed save giffgaff money, I also think that it adds a more unique approach on how things are looked at. Obviously giffgaff are extraordinary, they’re different, so to see this change would most certainly show the idea of this.
Size does matter – And using the smaller SIM cases would overall reduce costs. The only issue as it stands is the number of batches of the original size we have. This isn’t much of a problem, as they’ve already done the damage, giffgaff have paid for this, if the idea was to be implemented, we could see this happen when the old batches have all gone.
Looking at the scale of the issue, more than 2.9 billion SIM cards weighing 11,600 tonnes were shipped to mobile operators across the globe in 2008* – Giffgaff could change this. Orange have already started the process, and have received recognition for doing such thing.
I have gone and got an Orange reduced SIM holder, and taken a photo in comparison to giffgaff's below:
*Statistics taken from: http://newsroom.orange.co.uk
Kudo this idea if you like it, I think this change would be great, and save giffgaff more money.
My idea is simple. When a member takes there payback as credit instead of been given the standard 3 months of free GG-GG allowances that they should be given 6 months.
The first time I got payback I took £120 as credit to cover the next 6 months worth of goodybags but had to top up a tenner 3 months in just to keep my free GG-GG allowances even though I still had plenty of credit.
Now when I put this in 'contribute' various suggestions we're made as to how much. For instance if you was only getting £10 then you shouldn't get the 6 months so it may need some tweaking and I don't even know if GG's systems would allow this but I just think if a member is willing to take there payback as credit, this way keeping the funds with gg, then they should at least be rewarded with the 6 months worth of free GG-GG allowances.
Feel free to add your comments and ideas on how to make this idea a reality and if you like it then show your support. I believe it's a good idea as it benefits both GG and the customer
Edited:
I just to add thanks to everyone for your support so far. We've managed to get it to the 'under consideration' which is great but please still show your support for the idea and let's get this implemented as it's much needed!
Feel free to add your ideas as to what kind of amount of payback you take as credit to get the whole 6 months free gg-gg so we can maybe get some structure to the idea. Or should it just be 6 months for everyone who elects credit?
So thoughts please?
Edited:
only me again. . . . .
I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who has supported this idea but I also want to stress that the more support we get here the better chance of giffgaff implementing it.
It's been under consideration for quite a while now so I'm hoping this means GG are really thinking about it!
And we could really do with getting a bit of a debate going about how much the minimum amount should be but I've added the reason I think it should be free for any amount on page 5 of this thread so have a read and have your say!
Problem: Last month I got a new TomTom, its brilliant and has a tethering option to enhance its features for traffic and mobile speed cameras, all of which I have tried through my work phone. It uses a very modest 10mb a month or there abouts so the data quantity is not really a issue but the fact that I dont have tethering at all is! Problem is as I'm an unlimited data customer with GiffGaff I cant use it with my personal phone out of work hours. iFail.
Most people now seem to be in the 1gb+ usage wherever a smartphone is a part of life. Last month is less than normal usage for me and I used around 1.5Gb, a little youtubing on the loo, a little audiobook downloading on the train, emails, FB, and a few app downloads and before you know it your over your 1Gb allowance. Not usually a problem for me as I am on the unlimited tarriff. However this month I thought I would like to use the tethering option so I upgraded iOS7 (over Wifi), jailbroken, tetherme installed and the tarriff changed to a tarriff with tethering. Then giffgaff kindly email my usage and I see that 1Gb isnt going to cut it so Im back on unlimited again with no option of me using my TomTom or any other tethering for that matter.
So what do I do???
If I was to tether I have to go £10 1Gb limit which I will certainly go over and be left with no data well before the end of the month, and if I was to go £12 unlimited or higher I cant tether.
So what do I do??? It looks like my option is to move networks, not what I want.
Suggestion: A new goodybag package including tethering with a data allowance of 2-4Gb should me made, preferrably towards the hgher end of the data allowance suggested. This would allow moderate access to tethering which shouldnt be unreasonably expensive but will give a more sensible ceiling amount of data for the modern smartphone user. It should be priced between £10 and £15 and should offer similar value to the first unlimited data package but exchange the unlimited element with a finite amount of data with tethering which should balance out any risk for GiffGaff
Alternatively, the 1gb thresholds on the tarrifs including finite data allowance should be increased to a more usable amount considering the trend of smartphones/OSs which naturally use larger amounts of data.
How this helps: People who are trapped in a data corner who want or require tethering will be able to remain on GiffGaff and will not be forced to compare the market for tarriffs (possibly dearer) just to allow them to have it all. This will presumably attract more new customers too, attracting customers from older smartphone tarriffs away from the big networks and increasing the customer base at GiffGaff. As networks like o2, virgin and no doubt others are coming into GiffGaffs market and trying to draw away customers in the "value network" sector it will defend GiffGaffs position with greater appeal to a modern smartphone user (>63% of the market from the statistics I have seen).
In general its better to be at the front of the market innovating and driving forward, not the copycat firm at the back of the market just reacting to other companies marketing movements. This is a forward thinking manouver, placing GiffGaff where the market will go inevitably in the near future and securing that position early and the market share that goes with it.
But most imporantly of all.... it will make me happy and as a valued customer, promoter of GiffGaff and general good guy I think that carries some weight. 
Currently when you do a Google search for Capped SIM Cards you get a few ads and just one result: Tesco Mobile. Well with more and more scary media reports of people being billed thousands of pounds by accidentally leaving their data switched on or using their phone abroad, why not do a bit of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and get giffgaff up there on the results page. I'm thinking this would work the best with the £5/£7.50 goodybags at the lower end, which I've heard are much better than Tesco's similarly priced offerings. And once we have the possible new member landed on a giffgaff page, we can say something like:
"If you only buy a Goodybag, then when you run out of your allowance it will stop and not run up a bill, and if you have remaining credit, that can be used but once that runs out you will not be charged further."
"With giffgaff there are no shocking bank statements."
Hopefully this would lead to lots of new members that otherwise wouldn't have chosen giffgaff and may have moved to Tesco Mobile.
Please Vote for this idea by clicking Kudos.
Cheers
-Sy
We've been notified by gg in this thread by @jenniferho that, in an effort to save cost due to SIM wastage (SIMs ordered but not activated), that members will suffer reductions in the limits that they can order from their Spread giffgaff page.
I believe that a huge amount of cost could also be saved if gg stopped sending out the "Cheeky SIMs" too.
These, afterall, are nothing more than speculative as there is no guarantee of that being activated either?
As well as causing confusion to some new members who post on the forums wondering why they received it and what it was...
There are previous ideas of similar suggestion that were sent to the Idea Vault here and here due to lack of support and being against what the gg roadmap and ethos were trying to do, but, in light of the change of heart and direction by giffgaff, I feel this suggestion deserves its place on the boards again.
Thankyou for reading
Free to giffgaff
giffgaff promise free UK calls, texts, call forwarding and video calls between giffgaff customers if you 'top-up by top-up voucher, top-up by credit card or buy a goodybag from your credit card at least every 3 months'
Simple? Well, er! no, not quite. You see giffgaff also say the following on the goodybag page (and elsewhere):
Well, if you read the first statement, above, about how to qualify for free to giffgaff then you will realise the second about £10 goodybag including free to giffgaff can't be entirely true.
How so? Well if you haven't topped-up for over 93 days then you 'buy' a goodybag from your existing credit do you get free to giffgaff as promised in the goodybag description? The answer, rather confusingly is No.
The issue here is two-fold:
- It is confusing to understand and to explain
- the advert says free to giffgaff but you 'bought' the goodybag from existing credit so no free to giffgaff
- you top-up but then think you also have to buy a goodybag to get free to giffgaff
- help spread giffgaff and take payback as credit and lose free to giffgaff
- It is unfair on those who top-up a large amount and those who choose to take payback as credit
- top-up £100 twice a year (£200 spend) and lose free to giffgaff for six months
- buy a £5 goodybag four times a year (£20 spend) from credit card and get free to giffgaff for 12 months
- help spread giffgaff and take payback as credit and lose free to giffgaff
In order to lessen the ambiguity some, including myself, have suggested changes to the wording, the terms, and even the offer itself and giffgaff have stated they like some ideas, don't like top up rewards, but do want to keep the offer simple.
It's so confusing that when one member suggested 'Make starting a goodybag trigger free GG-GG calls' even that International Man of Mystery Vincent Boon, Chief of Community at giffgaff, waded into these muddy waters and changed its status to: 'Implemented' adding "This already works like this".
Yeah, baby, yeah!
So, clearly my 'New' idea here could just be kicked into the long grass and marked as 'duplicate' or we could grasp the nettle by the hand and sort this out once and for all. By the way my idea is different as that poster suggested "top up or activate a £10+ goodybag every 3 months" - I say any goodybag!
So, in order to bring all these various suggestions into one simple offer I suggest we implement the following:
giffgaff should provide free UK calls, texts, call forwarding and video calls between giffgaff customers who either 'top-up at least every 3 months or buy a goodybag'.
This would mean the attractive wording in all advertisements, on the 'Our offer', and 'giffgaff goodybags' pages would remain largely unchanged with some simplifications providing giffgaff and its users with a simple to understand, (and explain), offer.
Additionally, while simplifying the offer, this change is unlikely to affect giffgaffs cashflow as many people are already making wrong assumptions by buying goodybags to get free to giffgaff and would continue to do so as the advert would be largely unchanged. Indeed it may help keep cash in giffgaff as payback could be used to extend free to giffgaff without taking it out via PayPal then drip-feeding back.
Clarity, Fairness, and Simplicity!
Free giffgaff to giffgaff when you top-up or buy a goodybag.
Recently, you may have noticed that some new members are assuming that by topping up they would automatically get a goodybag. This could be due to giffgaff not explaining it clearly on their advertisments.
I found this Advert on a website:
If you notice, there is no mention of a goodybag. I understand, if giffgaff trys to explain what a goodybag is on the advert. Most people will simply get confused. Therefore I suggest giffgaff re-word part of the advert to avoid confusion amongst new members.
I suggest replacing "For only £10 you get" with "For a £10 bundle you get". If the word bundle is unsuitable then maybe another word which suggests that they would need to get a goodybag.
Similar to this, (but with better text quality)
I think a small change may help people understand how giffgaff works better.
I need your support for this suggestion to be considered, please Kudos.
Also please comment and tell me what you think.
Thank you for your idea!
I think it will be great if we could spend out giffgaff payback points on giffgaff items not only credit for example
- 1500-2000 points = giffgaff hoodie
- 600-1000 points= giffgaff t-shirt
- 1000 points= giffgaff slippers
- 500 points= giffgaff mug
- 1000 points= giffgaff slippers
etc
So a hoodie would be £15-£20 and mug £5. I personally think this would be awesome and make me want to get more payback points as credits good but eventually I wont need that much credit Also it will spread giffgaff more
Thank you for the great idea!
[10th Feb 2015]: This idea has been set to 'We're Looking into it'.
Afternoon all,
This is still something that we're excited to do. We still have some research to do before we can commit to it, but rest assured that we're looking into it.
All the best,
Will