@ Richard - agreed "brand identity" is much more than a logo.However I use it within the context of a logo design and so I hope you’ll forgive the interchangeable use of the term within the article.

Something of interest: I’m pretty sure that Vodafone launched a campaign launched at (I assume) older, less tech-savvy folk. They introduced a couple of mobile models (simple Nokia one’s I seem to remember) and the branding went against their usual ‘3d red speech mark’ look. I remember thinking that this was interesting - a simple brand for simple, no-fuss products.

You speak of a lack of creativity in the mobile companies’ marks. What would you suggest they do to spice things up but still carry their message (no pun intended) across? 

Take "Orange" for example. A square box with orange written on it isn’t exactly inspiring, it works for them at the moment but what if they took the text out of the box, made the box 3d and put a "glow" in the middle of it. Add a tag line "Think inside the box" and you automatically have a whole new look, which communicates aspiration ideas through to the user every time they see the logo. Ok, that was off the top of my head and I haven’t done any research into Oranges ethics and audience and aims etc so I may be way off the mark, but my point is that by playing safe all the time you can miss out on some really good ways of instilling your persona into an audiences mind. The T-Mobile example was a good one, again they have used parts of the logo to communicate products with their brand – I wonder if the original designers of the logo came up with that idea? What if you can create a logo which does this in a smoother more natural way?

I would suggest that a company thinks of an aspiration ethic that they wish to stick by and ensure that their logo and the placement of their logo can help to assist in that goal.

I was unaware of the Vodafone campaign you mention. Sounds good though - I wonder if it was successful as it sounds like a great strategy.