Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Virgin Mobile

Virgin Mobile USA Unveils $40 Unlimited Mobile Broadband Plan

Amit Chowdhry — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 17:05:59 +0000

Sprint subsidiary Virgin Mobile USA has just announced a new mobile broadband plan that is sure to impress. At $40 you can use an unlimited amount of data when you are on the go. Check out the chart above to see what I am talking about. Not bad considering that most other mobile broadband competitors cap you at different data consumption points. [Engadget]

Virgin Mobile Prepaid MiFi Coming Next Week

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 15:48:36 +0000

Virgin Mobile will introduce a Novatel MiFi router next week according to Gearlog. The Virgin Mobile MiFi turns a 3G signal into a WiFi hotspot for up to five devices and it will be completely prepaid. The device will cost $149 and then run for about $10 (100MB) or $60 (5GB). Virgin has the full data chart on their website. Personally I’m excited for this because I plan to take a huge road trip later this summer and don’t want to get locked into any contracts for MiFi. The Virgin Mobile MiFi will be available at Radio Shack, Best Buy, and online starting June 28th. [Gearlog]

Virgin Mobile Hits $16.8 Million Profit In Q2

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 02:30:17 +0000

Last month Sprint made an agreement to acquire Virgin Mobile for $483 million. Shortly after that announcement, Virgin Mobile announced their second quarter profits. Virgin said that their popular $50 unlimited plan was the reason why second quarter profits were driven to $16.8 million. In terms of the number of subscribers, Virgin Mobile lost many of them. About a year ago, Virgin Mobile’s profits was only $3.5 million.

Virgin Mobile also said that they plan to shift away from the $49.99 plan by the end of the year. “Our new $49.99 Unlimited offer has been particularly successful, representing 21% of all gross adds in May and June,” stated Virgin Mobile CEO Dan Schulman. “Supporting this strategic customer focus is the sale of higher-priced handsets, which are associated with higher data usage, better churn, and significantly higher lifetime value.”

The company lost 269,239 customers in the quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $307.6 million. In the same quarter the year before, the company reported $319.9 million.

Before the acquisition, Sprint and Virgin Group formed Virgin Mobile in 2002 as a joint venture. Sprint has been a primary provider of the Virgin Mobile network ever since.

[via InformationWeek]

Sprint to Acquire Virgin Mobile for $483 Million

Shan Sadiq — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:06:06 +0000

Sprint has agreed to acquire Virgin Mobile USA for $483 million. Sprint already owns 13 percent of Virgin Mobile. It is buying the carrier to expand its prepaid operations.

Sprint has been struggling to keep its contract subscribers from moving to larger carriers such as AT&T. Its prepaid service, Boost Mobile, however, has been successful. Boost offers a prepaid unlimited plan that has been a hit with the lower-end mobile prepaid market. Virgin Mobile USA is one of Sprint’s largest prepaid competitors. It has 5.2 million customers.

The deal is a stock-swap deal that values Virgin Mobile at a 31 percent premium over its Monday closing price.

Sprint plans to keep the brand’s name and CEO.

The prepaid mobile market is lucrative but highly competitive. In an economic climate where cash-strapped consumers are looking for ways to cut costs, prepaid cell plans are luring consumers in by offering no credit checks and low monthly costs.

Via

Virgin Mobile Unleashes Samsung Mantra SPH-M340 On Their Network

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:05:09 +0000

Virgin Mobile USA has announced the availability of the Samsung mantra (SPH-M340) mobile phone on their network. The design of the phone is a clamshell flip form. The Mantra has a 2″ 128×160 LCD screen with 96×96 display. The phone also has a VGA camera and 4x digital zoom. The phone has Bluetooth capabilities as well.

Some of the social networking features built in to the phone includes a connection to MyPix, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and Photobucket. The phone is available in a pay-as-you-go plan along with a monthly plan. The phone is priced at $59.99.

[via iTechNews]

Virgin Media Joins The Bebo Open Mobile Initiative

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:00:32 +0000

AOL sent out a press release today stating that Virgin Media has joined the Open Mobile initiative set up by Bebo, the social network that was acquired for $850 million in March 2008. The Open Mobile initiative is a way for mobile operators, developers, and manufacturing companies to build mobile versions of the Bebo social networks with their brand on it.

As part of the agreement, Virgin will be creating the Bebo Open Mobile Internet website with Virgin’s brand on it and they will also be putting bookmarks for Bebo on the pre-releases of their devices. Virgin customers will be able to easily access Bebo’s mobile services right out of the box.

“Virgin Media’s decision to embed Bebo in their customer experience plays to both of our strengths and joins two great brands. In partnership with Virgin Media, we will be able to deliver great mobile content to more users in the UK,” stated Sean Kane, VP of Mobile at AOL People Networks.

[via gomonews]

Virgin Mobile Plans To Launch Touch-Screen Phones Soon

Amit Chowdhry — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:47:59 +0000

Virgin Mobile’s Dan Schulman CEO stated at the Mobile Virtual Network Operator that the company plans to introduce a new line of touch-screen phones in the near future. Schulman did not give any specifics on when they would unleash the touch-screen, but stated that they stayed out of that market before since many consumers cannot afford these devices.

“Things like value and flexibility are moving to the forefront,” stated Schulman. “I think the economy is helping people to appreciate our model.”

Schulman believes that even though the iPhone and BlackBerry phones are getting a lot of attention, they still only account for 20% of the phones sold. This would be a very different move for Virgin because they are used to selling prepaid phone services. Last year Virgin acquired Helio, a struggling entertainment mobile virtual network operator company.

“It wouldn’t shock me to see more pricing pressure coming into the industry,” added Schulman.

[via PCW]

Kyocera Selling S1300 Melo & X-tc Phones On Virgin Mobile

Amit Chowdhry — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:23:56 +0000

A couple of new phones have popped up on Virgin Mobile’s website, powered by Kyocera. The first handset is the S1300 Melo (JAX) — its not much of a feature-crammed phone at all. As a matter of fact, the only thing it really has going for it is a color screen. The X-tc phone has a lot more goin’ on. It has a sliding QWERTY, QVGA display, a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and Facebook/MySpace applications built-in.

[via BGR / Phone Scoop]