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Xero Mobile to license ad system
As our mamas used to tell us, "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Those are wise words right now for any company, investor, or individual with an interest in Xero Mobile, brought to you by some of the same winners that brought you Gizmondo. We'd assumed these folks would've folded by now, but Xero claims to be on target for a January 2007 launch of their free, ad-based MVNO for college students (sound familiar?). In the meantime, they've gotta make an honest buck somehow, so they've begun licensing their nonexistent service to foreign companies with "expressions of interest" in launching Xero in their local markets. We hope this madness comes to an end before the world has to witness another work of art needlessly destroyed by crooked execs, but even in the unlikely event Xero makes it to see 2007, at least Virgin is a step ahead on the business model.
Phalanx of 34 new MVNOs on the way
If you haven't found an MVNO to suit your taste among the 213 now in operation worldwide, just wait a bit, 'cause it looks there's another 34 ready to launch soon, according to MVNODirectory.com. Among the new offerings include an MVNO from Ireland's Eircom, who decided to settle for MVNO after being turned downed for a spectrum license, as well as a couple that we've heard about already; Xero Mobile, for one, which hopes to snag some of that bored-but-poor student market (of course there's already at least one other MVNO targeting the same market), and Virgin Mobile, who are continuing to expand since being the first to launch an MVNO way back in 1999 -- they're poised to move into China and India next. If things keep going at this rate, there'll as many MVNOs as there were over-hyped, profitless dotcomsback in the day, and we all know how well that worked out.[Via The Wireless Report]
SugarMama: earn Virgin Mobile minutes by watching ads
Yeah, we've seen this system before. It didn't work for Gizmondo's Tiger Telematics when it was called Smart Adds, we didn't think it was going to work for the company's unofficial spinoff, Xero Mobile (started by the CEO of Tiger's Smart Adds division), but now Richy Branson wants you to to stop paying for (some of) your minutes by watching youth-oriented ads. Welcome to SugarMama, Virgin Mobile's ads-for-minutes system which gives you airtime in exchange for viewing a video ad or interacting with text ad, and then providing feedback to the advertisers (presumably to make sure you actually performed the act of watching or reading said ad). We don't yet know exactly how many ads it'll take to reach the monthly ceiling of 75 minutes "earned," but what would really impress us is if you could earn your whole minute plan this way.
Virgin Mobile launches Switch_Back QWERTY phone
It might not be any more good looking now that it's finally being released to public consumption, but Virgin Mobile's new Switch_Back handset by Kyocera still seems to be a solid choice for QWERTY-inclined text messaging fiends. Along with the "hidden" QWERTY keypad (it's called a clamshell, guys), the phone sports internal and external displays, and has a VGA camera. Otherwise there isn't much going on here. The handset will go for $150, and should be available in stores nationwide.
Virgin Mobile poised to launch MVNO in China
Interfax China is reporting that Virgin Mobile is close to signing a partnership with wireless carrier China Unicom that would make the UK-based company the first foreign MVNO in post-WTO China. Although Virgin would still require approval from the Chinese government, which carefully scrutinizes all proposed foreign business presences, the company will benefit from past deals in which Spain's Telefonica and Germany's Vodafone have made invesments in domestic telecom firms. Virgin already has offices in Shanghai, and CEO Richard Branson recently told reporters to expect a Chinese launch this fall, so it would seem pretty likely that this venture, which is well over a year in the making, has the necessary government support to proceed.
NTL makes bid for Virgin Mobile UK buyout
Through various combinations of offers involving weird fractions of shares and certain amounts of "pence," NTL has reached an agreement of with the Independent Board of Virgin Mobile Holdings to buy out the entire Virgin Mobile MVNO. The straight up cash offer is GBP 962.4 million ($1.68 billion USD), 372 pence per share. NTL is also offering 0.23245 shares of their stock for Virgin Mobile shares, or 0.18596 NTL shares plus 67 pence each. Virgin Mobile, which operates on the T-Mobile network, is the UK's largest MVNO, at 4.3 million subscribers. NTL is also entering into an agreement that allows them to brand their TV and fixed-line phone services as Virgin. We can't say we've exactly crunched all the numbers, so it's hard to give a thumbs up or down on the fiscal validity of the offer, but we're cooking up a sweet graph in Excel right now -- drop shadows and everything.
SMS-related injuries becoming more prevalant in the UK
It seems that the British aren't taking full advantage of the handy T9 predictive text entry feature on their phones, as Reuters is reporting that a record 3.8 million Brits suffered from a repetitive stress injury caused by fervent texting in the past year. Furthermore, 38% more people experienced a messaging-related RSI in 2005 than five years earlier, and 10% of the population send up to 100 texts every day. These statistics come from a survey commissioned by Virgin Mobile, who may live to regret it once they get hit with the first wave of SMS injury-related lawsuits. It looks like the souped-up XT9 couldn't have debuted at a better moment in history.[Via textually]
UTStarcom CDM-7025 revealed by FCC
The kids over at phoneArena just spotted another unannounced phone in the piles of FCC docs. This time, it's a low-end UTStarcom clamshell branded with both Verizon (model CDM-7025) and Sprint PCS (CDM-7025SP) logos. The phones feature a 65K color display and partially retractable antenna with the Verizon model throwing in AMPS support for good ol' "advanced" analog backup action.
Virgin Mobile's DAB TV HTC Trilogy mediaphone
Looks like Virgin Mobile showed its hand today at 3GSM, and it's a DAB TV multimedia phone built by HTC (dubbed the Trilogy, we're told). We were a little surprised they went with DAB TV and not something a little more standard like DVB-H, but we assume Virgin Mobile wanted a little more control of the broadcasting on the device (which itself runs Windows Mobile 5.0, has a 2.2-inch display, 1.3 megapixel camera, MicroSD, and, of course, plays digital television at the touch of a hard button off to the side). We don't know what kind of programming Virgin Mobile's got planned for it, but apparently they'll be announcing in March or April (Stuff thinks it'll include Sky and Channel Four shows, since this is a UK release, of course).
BT, Microsoft and Virgin partner for mobile TV
BT, Microsoft and Virgin Mobile are set to announce plans to roll out a digital TV service for UK cellphone users. The service, which would have a trial later this year and launch officially in 2006, would have a minimum of five channels, along with a range of audio-only offerings. The system would be based on DMB services currently being marketed in Korea. The service is expected to be branded Virgin Mobile TV; pricing and other details are expected at an announcement on Tuesday at 3GSM.
