In what can only be described as a disappointing turn of events, the webe event that happened earlier today was only to officially launch the community initiatives of the brand. This may be a bit of an anti-climax for most, but not all was lost as Packet One Network’s CEO, CC Puan, kicked off the event with an even bigger announcement: P1 is now webe (pronounced wee-bee). In CC Puan’s own words, this new image and brand marks the company’s new journey to make it a “digital mobility service provider with community at heart”.
We’ve never seen a telco service to be launched as anything but, so webe’s approach was highly unusual, and perhaps even a first; whereby it had decided to peg the new brand to a community driven project instead. This move is a further example of webe’s DNA of wanting to become more than just a telco. It is based on the We+Be brand name philosophy that describes ‘We’ as being more than ‘me’, and ‘Be’ referring to the freedom of being one’s self.
With these in mind, the webe community is a platform for everyone to come together to make something happen. Instead of crowdfunding a project, webe is promoting ‘crowdbacking’ where the general public will be able to promote and vote for their favourite projects till it receives enough traction for it to be fully funded by webe. This will lead to the completion of the selected project and, by extension, a general release to the public.
To start things off, there are now 7 community projects on the platform that are awaiting backing from the community:
- Predict & Beat Dengue app: To create an efficient way to control dengue outbreaks using the AIME prediction platform.
- WEbePOP: To revive the Malaysian English music scene by producing an original English pop compilation album using local artistes.
- KL24: A movie that will attempt to visualise how Malaysians would come together to handle a zombie outbreak in Kuala Lumpur.
- Malaysian Virtual Field Trips: To provide virtual field trips with 360-degree videos of Malaysian sights, professions, festivals and other interests that will be provided to underprivileged children from orphanages, refugee camps and indigenous communities.
- Cycle To China: To raise as much money as possible to help repair homes across Malaysia throughout the duration of a bicycle ride to Guang Dong, China.
- Malaysian Makers’ Market: To set up a permanent retail space for handcrafted products by Malaysian makers.
- A Container Classroom for Special Needs: To build a first-of-its-kind container classroom made especially for special-needs students including those who are wheelchair-bound.
The public will be able to back these projects by pledging ‘webits’ to these projects. Webits can be earned by sharing about a project or its posts. Once the predetermined amount of webits have been collected, the project will be unlocked and webe will fully fund it. Another unique approach this webe community initiative has adopted is to only allow access, to the backing mechanisms for these projects, via the webe mobile app (available on iOS and Android). As of now, the container classroom project has the highest amount of pledges, at 6,000 webits out of 100,000, with 29 more days to go.
As for all of us who are more interested in the the launch of webe’s new telco services/plans, CC Puan did not give users much to plan with but he did assure that the wait won’t be long (it was mentioned that it will be announced in the upcoming weeks).
hey, keep an eye on us.. the wait won't be long #webeawesome
— CC Puan (@ccpuan) April 13, 2016
Even now, a few hours after the announcement, nothing much has changed to P1’s homepage except for the single new product gallery/carousel that links back to webe’s community page. CC Puan explained that when webe’s service does get launched, it will be all about user experience; instead of just looking at quota, coverage, and speed. It looks like all those leaks and announcements that have been brewing for a while now will continue to simmer for a bit longer. Hopefully, the excitement about webe’s upcoming launch won’t lose steam before it arrives. For all of us who’ve been excited about today’s expected launch, Reuben has offered a new tag: #webeduped
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