Last week Hutchison 3G announced its brand name as "3". What does this mean to the man on the street - Your Guess Is As Good As Mine.

On the UK High Street, a WAP phone is sold as a WAP Phone and a GPRS Phone as a GPRS phone. Surely, a 3G Phone should be sold as a 3G Phone ? To be frank, I would have imagined so and it will be interesting to see what happens next. On the Isle of Man UK, Manx Telecom is undertaking a 3G Network trial for mmO2 using Guess What ? 3G Phones.

The WAP Phone and associated technology may have become a tad tarnished due to a number of factors and this could be one reason why hundreds of thousands of GPRS phones are sold each month on the UK High Streets, yet only 2% of the public choose the GPRS option, at extra cost.

You could argue that there is a case for dumping the technological term "3G", with each operator developing its own brand name e.g. "Orange3, 3O2 etc.

However, I do foresee a problem here. Consider how the typical person on the High Street will fare when faced with the choice of a WAP, GPRS, 3G, 3 or 4 other branded 3G phones. Now, Imagine, this person is your wife, husband or partner and they enter the High Street mobile shop.

Then consider. How the Sales Person will try to convince your partner to purchase one of these new unproven phones ?. Yes. By demonstration of the 3G network and 3G services such as streaming video, by much improved games and ALSO by the fact this is a Third-Generation Phone ( 3G Phone ) using far superior technology compared to the old. You need a far superior 3G Phone, Sir.

So why would you need a 3, 3G Phone ? Well look at Virgin Mobile USA. They are selling Kyocera wireless phones branded as "The Super Model" and "The Party Animal", which previously were just given model numbers. This is exactly the type of 3G Phone branding that may well surface with the arrival of 3G Phones. Quite frankly, I believe the phone market needs this and NOW.

So How about a slogan like : " Do you have a 3 pack" ?

Or a model of 3G Phone called "3 Times A Lady" ?

Or sponsoring the England Football team - "3 Lions On The Shirt"

To conclude, it is my opinion that the 3G Licence Holders and the High Street retailers have an urgent need to sell 3G Phones regardless of how they are branded and that a 3G Phone is simply a 3G Phone.