The acquisition has now been officially announced, saying that one shareholder will make it “faster”.
O2 has now released an official confirmation of its acquisition of the Weve mobile marketing venture that it had previously shared jointly with two other primary participants: Vodafone and EE.
The upcoming buyout of O2 is believed to have put somewhat of a rush on this acquisition.
O2 is preparing to be bought out by Hutchison Whampoa, and in this acquisition, it will be taking on the rest of the Weve deal, allowing Vodafone and EE to step out of the previous partnership. Weve will soon be proceeding forward exclusively as a subsidiary of O2. The mobile operator is going to keep up its ability for leveraging its customer data in order to provide the legs for the platform. Moreover, it will be adding another 20 million opt-ins for the platform, which will be gleaned from the 6 million Priority customers and 14 million O2 WiFi customers.
This will make it possible for the platform to be able to provide highly targeted mobile marketing.
The initial launch of Weve as a mobile advertising and wallet joint venture among the three giants occurred near the end of 2014. At that time, it was already boasting a massive customer database of a combined 20 million people. That was built upon the databases of all three of the partners in the project. Together, the three held a share of 80 percent market share. It wasn’t long before the mobile wallet component of the business was dropped and they proceeded with the marketing element.
According to Weve, this latest move represents a “strategic re-evaluation” of itself, and as the three partners break away and it continues under O2, it will provide the company with the flexibility that it requires to move ahead at a pace that reflects the current market.
Digital director of O2, David Plumb, explained that Weve has been successful through its focus on mobile advertising. Since 2014, it has witnessed a year over year growth of an estimated 45 percent. He added that there is still a great deal more room for growth, as “The UK mobile digital advertising market is big, growing by almost 100 per cent year on year to £850m in 2014.”
Weve teams with MasterCard to accelerate adoption among businesses
Weve, an upcoming mobile commerce platform in the United Kingdom, has announced that it has partnered with MasterCard. This partnership is meant to make the launch of Weve throughout the UK smooth as well as accelerate the rate at which merchants adopt the platform. The United Kingdom is quickly becoming one of the most attractive mobile payments market in the world. More consumers are using their mobile devices to shop online, claiming that shopping from a mobile device is more convenient.
Weve aims to provide organizations with platform that can effectively engage consumers
Weve was introduced last year after it had won the approval of the European Union. The platform represents a joint venture from Vodafone, EE, and O2, three of the largest telecommunications organizations in the United Kingdom. Weve is meant to serve as an all-encompassing platform that banks, retailers, and advertisers can use to engage mobile consumers. Such platforms are becoming more important as consumers begin to rely more heavily on their smartphones and tablets in daily life.
Partnership with MasterCard may attract more attention to mobile commerce platform
In partnering with MasterCard, Weve may be able attract the attention of banks and other organizations more quickly. Banks and retailers typically invest in third parties to develop mobile commerce platforms for them, but these platforms are often quickly developed and offer limited features to consumers. Through Weve, businesses will have a well-developed platform they can use to engage consumers more effectively and provide these consumers with a favorable experience.
Weve may not win favor with iOS consumers without NFC devices
Weve anticipates that it will see widespread rollout in the United Kingdom beginning in 2015. The platform is expected to be used as part of more than 300,000 point of sale systems in the country. The problem, however, is that the platform is based on NFC technology, meaning that those without NFC-enabled mobile devices, such as those with iOS devices, will not be able to make use of Weve. This could limit the potential acceptance than Weve receives in the United Kingdom.
