Orange have teamed up with ASDA to sell mobile phones in its stores. The first ASDA to trial the Orange concessions will be in Eastlands, Manchester earlier this month. There are 100,000 customers a week, so the 7 full time Orange staff in the ASDA store will be very busy. If this concession is successful, it will be rolled out to 30 other ASDA superstores. It may even be rolled out to the smaller ASDA stores.

October is an exciting time for Orange as this month they also opened their first ever multimedia store last week. The store opened in Midsummer Arcade in Milton Keynes and is aimed at encouraging more engagement between customers and mobile multimedia technology. The opening came at the same time as the launch of the Motorola’s DEXT mobile. The store has all the multimedia technology you would expect. There is a 70-inch cinema-style screen and seating for product demonstrations, workshops and film previews.

I wonder if Orange are trying to compete with Apple in the space for the most coolest and interactive mobile/app stores. If the reviews of the store are anything to go by, they are certainly making headway in this area.