Orange and OPPO have announced a co-innovation partnership agreement that will help to deliver Orange services to a broad range of OPPO’s smartphones and Internet of Things (IoT) devices to Europe. This is with a view to extending the delivery further across the Orange footprint.

A primary goal of the partnership is to create innovative solutions jointly to meet the evolving needs from consumers. The growing adoption of sim-free and eSIM (embedded SIM) devices has created new channels for today’s consumers, allowing them to choose where and from whom they purchase new devices, such as physical retailers and e-retailers in the open market. This partnership will significantly simplify and improve the customer journey and experience for consumers, enabling them to access Orange services more smoothly and effortlessly.

The availability of 5G will also create more ways for consumers to connect and presents new opportunities for the industry. OPPO has launched several key IoT products beyond smartphones such as the OPPO Watch, and has assembled a team of experts to develop leading solutions with its partners. OPPO works closely with them to create solutions that make it easier to access operator services while adapting to the ever-changing landscape of the mobile industry, such as the growing open market segment. The combination of OPPO’s vision and technical capability with Orange’s extensive network and customer experience ideally enables both parties to design new and pioneering solutions to address these specific market needs.

Personalisation of open market devices

In Q1 2020, Orange noted a 4.6% quarter-on-quarter increase of Android™ devices from the open market connecting to the Orange European network. The personalisation of open market devices is an Orange innovation and is activated upon detection of an Orange SIM card on a smartphone. This enables Orange to use OPPO’s over-the-air provisioning service to seamlessly load Orange services like My Orange/Orange et Moi or Orange TV, giving customers immediate, easy access to key services unique to Orange and thus greatly improving the experience for customers.

Orange personalisation will launch on OPPO’s open market variants, ranged by Orange across Europe from October 2020, including two new 5G devices – the Reno4 Z 5G and Reno4 Pro 5G, as well as OPPO’s 4G smartphone, the OPPO A72. More details will be provided by Orange countries later this year.

New eSIM smartwatch by OPPO makes it easier for Orange customers to connect to multi-SIM offers

Orange and OPPO are also jointly working to launch a new eSIM smartwatch that will deliver an even more advanced user interface on Wear OS by Google that fits the first rectangular Dual-Curved Edge AMOLED display, which is a stylish 46mm eSIM smartwatch.

Orange became the first operator worldwide to remotely connect and activate an eSIM with On Device Service Activation on Wear OS by Google, part of Orange’s multi-SIM strategy that helps Orange customers to easily connect their smartphones and wearables to one phone number. Within the Orange European footprint, eSIM smartwatch sales have grown by 80% YoY in volume, accounting for 30% of the volume and half of smartwatch revenues in our European footprint.

Alen Wu, vice president and president of Global Sales at OPPO says: “Over the years, OPPO has evolved into more than a smartphone company as we expand our offerings to IoT products and co-develop leading technology solutions for our industry partners. We are glad to see the co-innovation partnership with Orange unlocking great potential both in the wearable and the open market space in Europe, and we look forward to exploring further opportunities in the future.”

Philippe Lucas, EVP, Customer Equipment & Partnerships at Orange, says: “With the Orange personalisation, customers can get access to the full suite of Orange services whether they purchase their OPPO devices from Orange channels or the open market. This partnership with OPPO fulfils our local markets’ need for new and feature-rich smartphones and wearables, and enables Orange to deliver an unmatched customer experience.”

Comment on this article below or via Twitter: @VanillaPlus OR @jcvplus