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Qualcomm planning healthcare MVNO
As if the U.S. doesn't have enough MVNOs these days, CDMA pioneer Qualcomm plans on launching one with a healthcare focus. The new company, LifeComm, has been designed to have broad customer appeal -- not just for medical professionals -- and was created by Qualcomm and some unnamed partners. It's reportedly set for launch sometime in late 2008, featuring in-phone services that give advice and information on fitness, weight management or reduction, diabetes management and heart health. Past the phone, the MVNO will also offer services for wellness, fitness and even health maintenance. With ESPN Mobile folding not long ago, will such a narrow focus be enough for LifeComm?[Via mocoNews]
Helio Ocean launches today
Get ready to spend the weekend mindlessly sliding the Ocean's dual keypads open and closed until you drive friends and family to the brink of insanity (trust us, it's pretty addictive). Yep, that would be this weekend we're talking about -- Helio's new flagship device finally makes its debut on its website and store shelves today for $295, followed by a second wave of availability in a variety of third-party retailers toward the end of this month. Of course, unless you're within driving distance of one of Helio's handful of flagship locations, actually finding one today might be challenging; might we recommend our hands-on to hold you over while you patiently wait for the parcel to make its way to your doorstep?
Virgin Mobile to file for IPO
Virgin Mobile's distinction of being the first MVNO in the U.S. means it is the "granddaddy" of virtual operators, at least stateside. Enough bragging time has now gone by apparently, as Virgin Mobile has filed for an initial public offering (IPO). The move will take the company public where shares of the company will be traded in the U.S. marketplace. Some pundits believe this signals a maturation of the MVNO segment in the U.S. wireless landscape, but don't tell that to the scrappy folks at Amp'd Mobile or Helio, will ya? Anyhoo, Virgin Mobile has filed to be listed as "VM" on the New York Stock Exchange and it's possible the company will raise up to $100 million in the offering. That wad of cash will most likely be used to pay off debt and give a certain, unknown sum to Sprint Nextel, the carrier representing the American half of the joint venture -- the other half, of course, being Virgin proper.
Helio drags Earthlink earnings down, gets more cash from SKT
Alright, we've got good news and bad news. Which do you want first? The bad, you say? Well, it seems Helio's losses in the first quarter amounted to a $29.3 million equity loss for parent Earthlink in the same timespan, which ultimately accounts for over 97 percent of Earthlink's Q1 losses -- though in the earnings report, the company still seems pretty optimistic and committed to its MVNO lovechild with Korea's SK Telecom. Speaking of SK Telecom, the good news: Helio's other corporate parent said this week that it would be injecting additional capital to help out with marketing efforts (though would maintain the same equity balance in Helio with Earthlink that it does now). Like Earthlink, SK Telecom sounds optimistic about Helio's future, saying that despite falling short of initial expectations, ARPU (average revenue per user) and subscriber count are both looking up for 2008 and 2009. Something tells us the upcoming Ocean is going to help with those efforts significantly.Read - Earnings release [Via mocoNews]Read - SK Telecom's plans
Disney Mobile customers to get "heap of new features"
We love when a carrier or MVNO announces that a "heap" of new features is about to be released; it's sort of like winning the lottery, but with more marketing mumbo-jumbo and less cash. It seems the kid-friendly MVNO Disney Mobile wants to sell more handsets to parents and is about to add several new handset features just in time for that busy summer mommy season. Among them are the new "scout" feature that will locate and show points of interest (using GPS positioning, we suspect), one-click photo uploading to a shared family photo area and a "family calendar" feature in late 2007 or 2008 that will push PC-created calendar entries and changes directly to the Disney Mobile handset. Disney Mobile still does not plan to add any EV-DO phones ($99 is the magic price point there, it seems), so your kindergartner's high-speed 3G data will have to wait for now.[Via mocoNews]
Helio Hybrid, RIP: 2006 - 2007
Helio has officially cut down its Hybrid EV-DO / WiFi data card down in its prime. Actually, we're not sure if the Hybrid was cut down before its prime, in its prime, or past its prime -- but any way you slice it, it's toast. The move is going down pretty quickly, too; no new Hybrids are being sold, and existing customers will be switched off as of May 8 (though they're "welcome" to keep the deactivated card, according to the announcement). Folks who also have a voice line activated with Helio will be given a month of free service for their troubles, but we imagine that's little consolation to the poor laptops mercilessly stripped of hotspot and EV-DO access in the discontinuation's aftermath. Was it Helio's stingy 160MB limit that ultimately lead to the Hybrid's demise? We may never know -- but given Helio's cozy relationship with Earthlink and Boingo, we'd be pretty surprised if the MVNO were out of the dedicated data business for good.[Thanks, Brent S.]
Motorola Q, "Amp'd Edition" now available
As expected, Amp'd Mobile has gone ahead and rolled out its "MOTOQ, Amp'd Edition," a somewhat fresh take on the now-ubiquitous Windows Mobile Smartphone from Motorola. Besides being offered in the newer, arguably hipper black hue, Amp'd's (isn't it weird to have two apostrophes in a single word?) variant uses a custom interface crafted in Flash Lite to give it a slightly less buttoned-up look and feel than its corporate cousins on Sprint and Verizon. Get it now for $199, and the darlings at Amp'd will even throw in a 256MB miniSD card for good measure.[Thanks, Riles]
Disney Mobile talks (some) numbers
One of the lovely perks of existing as a tiny entity within a global megacorporation is that you can be a little coy with your public disclosure and get away with it. That's exactly the game kid-friendly Disney Mobile is playing as it gears up to celebrate its first anniversary, completely ignoring the burning question of subscriber count to concentrate on inane stats like how many people use its GPS tracking services (30 percent, by the way) and the balance of adult users to kids (56 to 44 percent). Sub count is particularly interesting here for a couple reasons: first, all eyes are on the still-maturing MVNO market as players try to find their niches and stake their claims against the big guys, and second, stablemate ESPN Mobile bit the dust last year for lack of interest. To be fair, Disney Mobile's target demographic is utterly different than ESPN's was -- and kiddie phones seem to be hot items these days -- so it's entirely possible all's well in the Magic Kingdom; until Disney decides to release more deets or the division closes up shop, though, it's all speculation.[Via Techdirt]
The Engadget Mobile Interview: Sky Dayton, CEO of Helio
Ryan, Chris, and I had the chance to sit down with Helio CEO Sky Dayton, almost exactly a year after we first interviewed him. A lot has changed in twelve months -- for starters, Helio hadn't even launched yet -- so read on to hear how the MVNO's been doing, what he really thinks about the iPhone, and why he's so excited about excited about their latest handset, the Ocean. Last time we sat down with you it was a few months before Helio had launched. A year later, how has it been? Where are things now? Yeah, so when we had last talked, we had no members. It was just an idea. It has been an amazing ride so far. It is great to be here and be able to talk about Ocean for the first time. Something we have been working on since even before Helio was a company. I remember you mentioning a year ago that you had a Sidekick competitor coming out. We were coy for a long time. We were just so focused on building it and working really hard, with a lot of travel to and intense amount of work by our team, so it is great to be here and be able to talk about this.
KDDI Mobile - KDDI to launch US MVNO, stop the presses!
KDDI, Japan's number two cellphone carrier, totally blew our minds, everybody: they stated today that they'll be starting up an MVNO on Sprint in the US, name: KDDI Mobile. What's the point of yet another MVNO? (We're obligated to ask.) Well, besides giving Helio a run for their money in the Asian-carrier-gone-US-MVNO biz, maybe, just maybe we'll finally see a slew of totally slick and unbelievably well designed Japanese featurephones stateside (see above). Unfortunately, it sounds like they want to cater to Japanese expats in the US (are there really that many?); either way we definitely just got the warm n' fuzzies.
Details slowly emerge on Motorola Q, Amp'd Edition
Amp'd first started talking up its upcoming Q a couple weeks back, and thanks to LetsTalk.com and a circulating rebate form, we have some information on pricing now, too. The "MOTO Q, Amp'd Edition" -- or simply "Q," if you're lazy like us -- will go out the door for a nickel under $200 before the application of a $100 rebate. The ubiquitous Windows Mobile Smartphone has some interesting tricks up its sleeves this time around, too (as well it should, considering that this is one of the first times the device has been explicitly marketed away from its business user roots), utilizing a Flash Lite-based app as its primary user interface. Of course, the handset will offer all of Amp'd's rich content, comes in black (more hip than the original silver -- black is the new black, after all), and should find its way into buyers' hands before the month is out.[Thanks, hajmola]Read - Official press releaseRead - Rebate form [Warning: PDF link]
Virgin Mobile rolls out MARBL from Kyocera
See, that wasn't such a bad wait, no was it? A few weeks after we told you about the MARBL coming down the pike for Virgin Mobile from frequent partner Kyocera, the cheap flip is now available for public consumption from retailers everywhere. At $30 sans contract (remember, Virgin is a prepaid MVNO), the MARBL doesn't offer terribly much in the way of features, but it does manage to pack a speakerphone, internal antenna, and color display -- and hey, it doesn't look half bad. Just as long as you're cool with the name, Motorola, we are, too.
Create your very own MVNO with Sonopia
It seems we're a little closer to creating an Engadget Mobile wireless service than we thought! Start-up Sonopia offers... well, pretty much anyone the ability to roll their own MVNO, pushing a selection of handsets and customized content on top of Verizon's network. Big Red offers up the minutes at a wholesale price, so your MVNO's service plans aren't outrageously priced, and as your list of subscribers grows, you get to pocket a little cash out of the deal. It seems like a major win for groups that stand to benefit from being able to offer up phones and services customized to their customers' common ties -- and, of course, Sonopia and Verizon are going to have their hands in the pot, too. The company's website makes setup virtually effortless, so go on and make the next Amp'd, will ya?[Via GigaOM]
Amp'd Mobile faces $100,000 fine
Our buddies at the FCC want to fine MVNO Amp'd Mobile a cool $100,000 for failing to protect consumers' personal calling records from data thieves. In an age where sensitive customer information (credit cards, social security numbers, etc.) seems to get leaked monthly, maybe large fines like this will force telecom companies and others to reign in IT systems and internal processes that involve customer information. With the FCC having issued no less than four fines in recent months to companies for inadequate internal controls to safeguard personal customer information, the agency promised "aggressive, substantial steps." We believe that a $100,000 fine to Amp'd Mobile definitely qualifies, and with Amp'd Mobile's current annual sales estimated to be about $5.2 million, a $100,000 fine is more than a pinch according to our math.
Hands-on with the Helio Ocean
Color us impressed. We got our first shot at Helio's upcoming superphone today, and from the all too brief time we had, we think this thing is gonna pack a punch. The dual slide mechanism was extraordinarily smooth -- one of the smoothest we've ever felt. It's big, but not unreasonably so for a handset of its capability and form factor, and the software build seemed slick and stable (the messaging app was killer, in particular). Click on for the Ocean in all its split-personality glory! Gallery: Hands-on with the Helio Ocean
The Helio Ocean
All hail the new king of Helio's lineup: "Ocean." That ain't really hyperbole, either; the Pantech-sourced device first seen in the FCC's claws a few months back easily has enough tricks up its sleeve to put it atop Helio's already impressive stable of featurephones. Most striking, of course, is the dual-slide design with QWERTY in one direction and numeric in the other -- a first, as best we can tell -- that gives users the best of both worlds without compromising much girth (21.8mm to be exact). Other unique goodies (besides the requisite EV-DO and GPS) include a contact list with integrated "presence detection" showing contacts' statuses on a variety of instant messaging services, Exchange Server and ActiveSync integration(!) for the suits out there, geo-tagged photo uploads with Helio UP, multi-client communications app for Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, Gmail, and email, and a click-free web search mechanism -- users simply begin typing from their home screen to seek out sites in its new full-HTML browser. The Ocean also has built-in Google Maps (as did the Heat and Drift), will rock out to PlaysForSure tunes for a claimed 15 hours (pretty frickin' impressive if that figure holds up), offer 200MB of internal storage with microSD expansion, USB mass storage mode, a 2 megapixel cam, and stereo Bluetooth support. Look for it to start showing up on shelves before summer sets in for $295. Gallery: The Helio Ocean
Canada gets Amp'd
Amp'd Canada has officially launched in... well, Canada. Originally announced by Telus way back in August, the March 14th launch coincided conveniently -- and we're sure totally coincidentally -- with the launch of number portability up there. The only handset available at launch is the Motorola Q, available both through Amp'd retail setups and Telus stores. Package options are pretty sweet, from $30 to 75 CDN for voice and a bevy of entertainment add-ons for radio and TV services.[Via MocoNews]
Virgin Mobile adding another cheap flip, "Marbl"
The Oystr looks poised to give way to the Marbl in the "what $30 will buy you" department on Virgin Mobile -- the US' prepaid Virgin Mobile, that is, not its DVB-H-havin' cousin across the pond. The Kyocera-sourced clamshell follows Virgin's typical keep-it-simple strategy with a minimal internal display and clean exterior (read: no cam or external display to be found). That said, the phone doesn't look half bad -- and seeing how this is prepaid, that $30 is going to get you this thing outright. No word on an exact release date, but Virgin's site lists it at "Coming Soon" and -- in our experience, at least -- waits are measured in days once a carrier admits that they're going to launch a model.[Thanks, Charlene]
The Helio Heat
QWERTY fans need not apply -- your phone hasn't quite hit yet -- but folks in search of a slick-lookin' little slider on Helio have another solid choice. Just like its big sib, the Drift, the Heat comes to Helio courtesy of Samsung, but gains touch-sensitive controls and a lower price point. The new model serves up Bluetooth, 136MB of internal memory (though no external -- advantage Drift), 1.3 megapixel cam, Helio Music compatibility, and the full suite of GPS goodies including Google Maps and Helio's "Buddy Beacon" service atop a 2-inch QVGA display. Look for the Heat to go on sale today for $150 in your choice of Gold and the always-fashionable "Onyx" (alias "black"). Follow the break for a shot of the Heat doing its slide thing in both shades!
Helio's Pantech PN-810 QWERTY device pops up in FCC
And here it is, Helio's coup de grâce. The QWERTY handset we'd heard Helio was cookin' up with Korea's Pantech actually hit the FCC some time ago, but the shots we were able to glean from the test apparatus documentation were teasers at best. Thanks to the wonders of expired confientiality agreements, that same FCC documentation now yields a bounty of goodness, including a user's manual and a full array of pictures. The so-called PN-810 gives the illusion of a dual slider, but actually employs two distinct layers to provide two completely different keypads depending on the slide direction: QWERTY in one, numeric in the other. Key features (other than the unusual form factor, of course) include a 2.1 megapixel cam, Bluetooth, and the full array of goodies that comes with Helio membership. A release date remains uncertain, but the PN-810's been chilling with the feds for some time now, so we wouldn't be terribly surprised to see it hit in the near term. Gallery: Helio's Pantech PN-810 QWERTY device pops up in FCC
