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Vonage to become Vonage Wireless?
VoIP provider Vonage has already cut a deal with EarthLink to resell WiFi, presumably to go along with some sort of WiFi phone service, but could they have something way crazier (and more costly) on tap? BusinessWeek speculates that Vonage might be getting into the cellular game by launching an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). It's not hard to imagine them offering something similar to T-Mobile's HotSpot @Home service, which lets you use a WiFi-enabled cellphone to make VoIP calls over WiFi and and then seamlessly switch over to cellular networks whenever you're outside WiFi range. The problem is that launching an MVNO is no small undertaking. ESPN shuttered MobileESPN last year after failing to attract more than a handful of subscribers, and Amp'd and Helio have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to carve out a slice of what is an incredibly competitive wireless market (Apple was working on an MVNO to accompany the launch of the iPhone, but scrapped the whole thing once it became obvious how difficult it would be to gain marketshare). Could they do it? Maybe, but not without spending a TON of money, which is why it's more likely that they'll introduce a more modest Voice over WiFi service.[Via GigaOm]
Helio adding Samsung A303 to lineup?
Sure enough, it looks like the Drift is just the first of a multi-phone partnership betwixt Samsung and Helio, with news coming out of phoneArena that the MVNO now appears signed up to get the A303. Though Helio's entire lineup to date has been at least fashion-conscious (with the Hero arguably the notable exception), the A303 might stand to be Helio's first fashion-focused model on account of its magically disappearing touch-sensitive controls. Other features should include a decent 140MB of internal storage and a 1.3 megapixel cam. No word on release, but with all due respect to Samsung, this isn't really the unreleased Helio we're most looking forward to at the moment.
Helio Music launches
Helio today becomes the latest carrier to enter the lucrative fray of mobile music sales, rolling out its "Helio Music" platform to a customer base revealed to rock a monthly ARPU (average revenue per user) in excess of $100 -- not a bad target demographic, if we do say so ourselves. The scrappy MVNO, which expects that very target demographic to hit 100,000 subscribers some time in Q2 after launching last May, will offer music downloads direct to user's handsets for $1.99 a pop -- or, more intriguingly, to desktops via a PC client available this spring for 99 cents, at which point the songs can be loaded back to the handset via USB at no additional charge. Helio is promising an unusually user-friendly interface and a far wider selection than other carriers have managed to offer thus far, signing on Universal, Warner, Sony BMG, and EMI to bring "thousands of well-known artists" to Drifts across the land. Speaking of the Drift, it'll be the first device to support Helio Music; no word on whether Helio's older handsets will be supported in the future, but with the Drift's stereo Bluetooth support, we're thinking it's the way to rock anyway. Follow the break for Helio's press release.
Penny texting pays off for Virgin Mobile, hits 4.6 million customers
Virgin Mobile recently announced that at the end of 2006 it had 4.6 million customers underneath its belt, which isn't half bad seeing that the company has only been around less than half a decade. The firm attributes the recent subscriber growth to penny text messaging, its hybrid pricing plans, and Sugermama -- a one-of-a-kind service in the US that allows customers to get airtime credit for watching advertisements. Of course, that uber-cheap texting rate is going directly against the waves created by the other, more prominent carriers here in the US, and it's not too shocking to see consumers flocking to lower-priced add-ons when everyone else uses these areas to pad their profit margins. Nevertheless, it's becoming increasingly difficult out there for an MVNO to make it, so kudos to VM for holding out this long, and look for a few more subscribers to come your way when fast-food value meals end up being cheaper than a two-way SMS conversation.
Helio prepping next-gen MySpace Mobile
MySpace, Helio. Helio, MySpace. They just sorta sound right together, do they not? MySpace has been one of Helio's major pushes from day one, even going so far as to let MySpace members forgo the typical contract when signing up for service. Problem is, Helio is about to lose its exclusivity clause with MySpace, and you can bet your bottom dollar other carriers are rearing to get in on that lucrative demographic. No worries, Helio fans -- the funky lil' MVNO has another ace up its sleeve. The next generation of MySpace Mobile will be coming to Helio handsets shortly as a no-cost download, and it looks to be a pretty comprehensive revamp (and more importantly for Helio, it's a Helio exclusive). First and foremost, MySpace Mobile v.2 (as it's being called) will be a dedicated app rather than using WAP to do its deeds, which translates to a considerably richer experience and faster operation -- up to five times faster, we're being told. It'll also have new goodies to edit users' profiles, upload pictures quicker and easier, and run in an idle mode from the home screen for getting alerts and the like (similar to Helio On Top). Look for MySpace Mobile v.2 to make its grand entrance in early January -- along with a certain Pantech, perhaps?
The next Kickflip? Helio-branded Pantech in the wild
So, we covered the Pantech PN-810 in passing a couple weeks back as part of our regular FCC Fridays series, and at the time, we had absolutely no idea what significance the device had. Those familiar with the FCC's online document repository know that the "External Photos" and "User's Manual" PDFs are usually the most exciting bits. The test reports, on the other hand, typically cause one's eyes to glaze over by page two or three, and attempting to digest the entire thing is akin to torture. Anyhoo, eagle-eyed (and brave) HowardForums members have picked out a couple telling pictures buried deep within one of those test reports; besides revealing the form factor and design of the handset, they also leak a carrier -- Helio. Since VK Mobile's implosion earlier this year, it only makes sense that Helio would be looking to replace the VK-sourced Kickflip with another swivel phone (although this could be a slider, too) from a manufacturer more likely to stick around for a while, and that's where Pantech comes into the equation. All this being said, we don't know much of anything about the phone besides what we see here, and we don't think this is the rumored QWERTY phone Helio's been said to have up its sleeve. With an FCC approval under its belt, though, we hope this'll all sort itself out sooner rather than later.[Via HowardForums, thanks Simon]Update: Our original tipster, Simon, has pointed out something very important: there appears to be another "layer" hiding on the bottom of the phone that would presumably slide out to reveal a full keyboard. Combined with the centering of the screen and the soft buttons up top, it lends credibility to the theory that this really is the mythical Danger-designed QWERTY superphone after all. Shouldn't be long now, folks. (We hope.)
Helio's first dedicated store opens its doors
Say you're in the market for a Helio device; perhaps a Hybrid data card or that hot new Drift all the kiddies are talking about. Could you get it from some third-party wireless outlet or Helio's online store? Sure, of course you could, but where we come from, we go big or we go home. Helio's Santa Monica flagship store has just opened its doors, and the MVNO is hoping would-be members (and current members alike) drop by to buy their next Helio device -- or, in the words of Helio honcho Sky Dayton himself, "cruise by to meet up or just hang out with friends." If Santa Monica is a bit out of the way, look for San Diego, Palo Alto, and Denver to flip their switches by year's end with New York following in early '07.
easyMobile closes up shop
The UK's easyGroup seems to have figured out the pizza and airline industries well enough, but the rough and tumble world of running an MVNO? Not so much. easyMobile, a partnership of easyGroup and Danish carrier TDC, has decided to call it a career after TDC stumbled upon a "change in strategy" and decided to pull out of the UK market. It's all crumbling apart at a brisk pace, too: easyMobile turns off the lights for good at midnight on December 13, at which point customers' phones will be about as useful as bricked Nokia E70s unless they get 'em unlocked (which they say they'll "do [their] best" to accommodate) or transferred to another carrier ahead of time. No rush, folks.[Via The Register]
MVNO Picante Movil to target Spanish speakers
Titan Global Holdings and subsidiary Oblio Telecom look to take the leap from prepaid calling cards to prepaid wireless service -- a leap that has become significantly shorter thanks to the magic of the virtual network (MVNO) concept. Picante Movil, as it's known, will focus on prepaid offerings to the Spanish speaking community. Though it runs up against a number of competitors in the MVNO space with a Spanish slant, Picante's selling point might be that its phones can be kept active by adding as little as $5 at a time. Now, if you'll excuse us, we've gotten hungry thinking about picante; we're going to go fix ourselves a little something.[Via The Wireless Report]
Helio Drift official: $225 in black or white
Ushering in what appears to be an ongoing partnership with Samsung, Helio has officially taken the wraps off its Drift slider. While it might not be able to run with the latest and greatest that Korea has to offer in its domestic market, the Drift looks to stand head and shoulders above the lion's share of handsets in US circulation with a fairly impressive spec sheet. Besides the expected QVGA display, decent storage (128MB, to be exact) with microSD expansion, 2 megapixel shooter and EV-DO, the Drift sports a true GPS receiver. That in itself isn't terribly notable or interesting, but Helio's bundling the Drift with a GPS-enabled version of Google Maps, which when you take into account the routing, real-time traffic, and satellite view capabilities, might make a dedicated nav system obsolete for some users. Helio's also using the launch as an opportunity to introduce "Buddy Beacon," a location-based system in the same vein as Loopt for locating and mapping a preselected list of friends. Add in a web browser that's been revamped for speed and A2DP support, and the Drift -- in either white or black -- suddenly seems like a bargain at the $225 asking price.
Amp'd to get upgraded Motorola Q?
A microscopic, grayscale image is about all we have to go on right now, but that little sliver of evidence seems to corroborate the claim that Amp'd Mobile is all geared up to take on a variant of Motorola's Q smartphone. On account of Amp'd's target demographic, we might normally argue that there are other carriers in the world better suited to take on a business-oriented device like the Q -- but if the rumored upgrades are anywhere close to real (three megapixel cam, "new UI," and integrated SlingPlayer) at the also-rumored price point of $100 -- not to mention the nifty black shell -- Amp'd subscribers would be crazy not to dig it. Could this be the rumored Q Pro?[Thanks, MRa]Update: Better eye candy of the Amp'd Q has surfaced, once again on HowardForums -- click through for the goods.
Samsung's 1GB S-SIMTM: your GSM SIM and 1GB storage, combined
So you picked up your GSM-variety LG KG800 Chocolate phone to find it not only missing the 850 band, but it also suffers from a paltry 128MB of on-board memory (without any type of expansion) making the whole media aspect of the phone relatively pointless. Well check it tri-bander, 'cause Samsung is ready to boost your storage via the ol' SIM slot by coupling 1GB of NAND flash with a traditional SIM without upping the size of the card. Yes, that makes the 1GB S-SIMTM card yet another "world's biggest" for Samsung. No word on when these 1GB S-SIM (as they are generically dubbed) cards will be available or who might actually carry them. All we know is they they're on display right now at the Cartes 2006 show in Paris.[Via Akihabara News]
Blyk: another MVNO enters the ads-for-minutes fold
We're not entirely sure what chemical they've put in the water in the past couple years to make everyone suddenly think that cellphone users want to get blasted with ads in exchange for airtime -- but alas, please welcome Blyk (not to be confused with "bilk") to the party. The upstart Finnish MVNO, put together by an ex-Nokia exec, looks to target young Europeans aged 16 to 24 as soon as next summer by hooking them up with questionnaires that will allow advertisers to send ultra-targeted ads based on lifestyle, hobbies, and preferences. Blyk claims that most handsets already on the market will be compatible with its service -- even those without graphical displays -- suggesting that most ads will initially fly over SMS. The company is making a big stink over the fact that they're the first to suggest that this is a good idea; we think Xero Mobile would beg to differ, but that's one chicken we won't be counting 'til it hatches.[Via Smart Mobs]
Mobile ESPN: US out, India in
Disney's sports-oriented MVNO sitting atop Sprint's airwaves, Mobile ESPN, is nothing more than a memory for US customers. Having taken less than one full year to go from hot prospect to spectacular implosion, you might think that the folks in charge would've been left a bit too traumatized to even think about another launch. Alas, the service is getting a second chance at success in mobile-hungry India, though it'll take on less of an MVNO feel this time around. In fact, it's been relegated to nothing more than a WAP-based service offered through a variety of India's carriers, costing anywhere from Rs 50 to Rs 99 (a buck or two USD) per month. Good luck and godspeed, ESPN; we know you mean well.[Via MocoNews]
Danger designing dual slider for Helio?
Before anyone does anything rash like bust open the piggy bank in preparation for the Helio Drift, wait just a minute and listen up. Word on the street is that an even hotter phone is around the corner for the scrappy, MySpace-friendly MVNO. Details are sketchy at best, but the rumor goes something like this: Pantech and Danger (yeah, the Sidekick folks) have hooked up to design a dual-slide handset -- think LG SH100, but with QWERTY in one direction and numeric in the other. For the record, it's worth noting that Helio's VP of "Experience Design" Matias Duarte previously served as Danger's director of design, so it's possible that Duarte either called on his former employer to hook him up, or more controversially, that the new design is simply Danger-like in appearance and function. We've heard the terms "sleek," "rounded," "rectangular," and "black" thrown around to describe the device, which should pack 150MB of internal storage, Bluetooth, and a 2 megapixel cam. If we just threw a wet blanket on your desire for the Drift, we're sorry. Not really, though.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]Update: Judging from Helio's recent trademark filings, this could be the "Mighty." Also looks like there will be a silver or white version of the Drift, aptly named the "Snow Drift."
Say hello to the Helio "Drift"
Word has it we're looking here at Samsung's first entry for Helio, christened the "Drift." Coming hot on the heels of news that the Kickflip is no more, the glossy black Drift appears to be more of a phone in the Hero vein on account of its slider form factor. It'll apparently come equipped with a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth (something the Kickflip sorely lacked) with A2DP, and a QVGA display, though we can't yet confirm that it'll be rocking the aforementioned Java platform from XCE. We'll pass on more Drift news as we get it, but expect the phone to launch fairly shortly.[Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Next up for Helio: Samsung and Pantech
In the aftermath of VK Mobile's implosion, it stands to reason that Helio might be on the lookout for new (slightly less bankrupt) hardware partners. Telecoms Korea is reporting that Samsung will be added to the mix -- something we've reported previously -- while Pantech will stay on board to follow up the Hero. All future handsets are said to be running XCE's Java-based platform, a move that makes sense considering Helio's mantra of a uniform user experience across all its devices. All this seems to play in nicely with the VK sourced Kickflip having now gone "out of stock" on Helio's website -- so if you want to get your hands on that white, spring-loaded, addictive pivotphone and you find one in-store, we might recommend you grab it while you still can.
Kyocera brings K325 "Cyclops" to Virgin Mobile
Looking perhaps to move a little upmarket from the low-end Oystr, Virgin's new Kyocera-supplied "Cyclops" clamshell adds a couple key features that should appeal to the gearheads in the prepaid crowd. Besides generally looking a little fancier than its pearly sibling, the Cyclops puts its money where its mouth is by rocking a 1.3-megapixel shooter, a 160 x 128 display, and a speakerphone. The big draw here, though, appears to be the introduction of Virgin's new Virgin Mobile Audio Messaging (VAM) which allows subscribers -- rocking compatible handsets, of course -- to exchange brief voice messages the same way they'd send SMSes. As with Nuance's voice-to-text service, we're a bit skeptical that this is really gonna catch on, but who knows what kinds of services the kiddies are into these days?
Embarq to offer PTT on Sanyo 2400
Sprint-Nextel landline spinoff Embarq is starting to look more and more like its ol' corporate parent; first, it promptly gets right back into the wireless business, and now it's going all Nextel on us by offering push-to-talk. The service, dubbed "Wireless Press & Talk" (how creative), is initially being offered on the Sanyo 2400 clamshell -- a phone that goes out the door on the cheap at $30 with a two-year agreement. With the meager one megabyte of internal memory, we think we're understanding the value pricing, but (for the time being) it's the only game in town for PTT on the MVNO. The Sanyo 2400 and Wireless Press & Talk are both available immediately.
UTStarcom Slice gets official for Virgin Mobile
Rumor has it the Slice has been floating around a Wal-Mart here and a Radio Shack there for at least a week or two now, but UTStarcom and Virgin are just now getting around to announcing the slimphone's availability all official-like, and the companies are quick to point out the Slice's main selling point: the candybar is now the thinnest phone (10mm) available in the US without contract. Of course, other critical points to make would be the phone's attractive out-the-door price of $50, while feature-conscious users will still appreciate the MP3 ringtone support with 32MB of storage, reasonable 128 x 128 color display, and that endlessly imitated RAZR-style keypad. Look for the Slice now in stores with online available following on November 2.
