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Every day, thousands of people across the country use ride-sharing services like Uber, Lyft, and others. They can be boring drives—especially in slow traffic—but Octopus Interactive—part of T-Mobile Advertising Solutions—solves that with games, videos, and local information that riders can interact with in the back seat. 

It’s a win for passengers and drivers—who get paid $100 a month plus $25 bonuses for referrals. Drivers also make more money from tips because riders love the experience. Sponsors pay to place interactive advertising, which is what makes the business model successful. If drivers make over 100 trips per month, they’re eligible for a free tablet, mount, and T-Mobile data. 

Success is a Challenge 

The Play Octopus program is so successful that T-Mobile faced the challenge of kitting, configuring, and distributing thousands of devices. They didn’t have the internal resources for that, so they reached out to Stratix. We’d already helped Octopus Interactive migrate their existing fleet to a new carrier network, so they knew about our capabilities. 

We worked with Octopus to design a solution that included a Samsung Tab A7 Lite tablet configured with the applications and connectivity required. All drivers have to do is turn on the devices, login, and they’re ready to go. 

How Stratix Made the Difference 

At our Atlanta Mobile Configuration Center, Stratix technicians used our proprietary ProCheck configuration system to set up 2,500 Samsung tablets a week. Our stringent quality controls ensure each device has all the required software, the correct SIM card, and all the information for each tablet is recorded properly. The devices were then shipped to the distribution points required by Play Octopus out-of-the-box ready. 

Thousands of Customers Now Enjoying a Better Ride Experience 

The Play Octopus project with Stratix includes 53,000 tablets for drivers across the country who are making more money thanks to happier customers. Because T-Mobile could deploy the devices rapidly, the company is generating more advertising revenue faster. This project is just one example of the value that Stratix— one of the most experienced pure-play enterprise mobility specialists in the U.S.— brings to customers as a T-Mobile Integration Partner.