Blyk Part 3: I finally get it

I had a eureka moment listening to Jonathan MacDonald last week at Forum Oxford. I don't think he intended it but it happened all the same. I suddenly realised that I had previously viewed Blyk through traditional telco eyes when the trick is to think of it in completely different terms.

You see, I now realise that it is not an MVNO at all. The telecom elements of the proposition are only a hook to hang the proposition on and not the proposition itself. The proposition is actually a discount or coupons club for people of a similar interests - and crucially I think - a particular segment of people who do not like to be missing out on what others are getting.

The first post I wrote on Blyk was quite negative, focusing on the lack of success of MVNOs around the world, the complications of the proposition and a few other sundries for good luck. I am pretty sure now that I was wrong.

Blyk - the case for

I noticed this piece at We Love Mobile which benefits from a meeting with the team from Blyk. I thought it worth posting because, as Ben writes here, it was perhaps too easy to point out the faultlines in the proposition when, for many reasons, we all fervently hope that this succeeds.