Virgin Archive

  • Virgin Mobile launching prepaid MiFi next week

    Virgin Mobile launching prepaid MiFi next week

    Posted on June 23, 2010 | No Comments
    The spotlight on Sprint's MiFi has definitely faded since the launch of the Overdrive and EVO 4G -- both of which can kick it into high 4G gear when in range -- but Sprint subsidiary Virgin Mobile is bringing Novatel's groundbreaking mobile hotspot back into the forefront by taking it to the prepaid world. What that means is that you'll be paying $149 for the MiFi itself -- contract free, naturally -- plus any of a number of prepaid data rates ranging from $10 for 100MB all the way up to $60 for 5GB. It's said to be launching next Monday online and in Best Buy and Radio Shack locations -- so if you're an occasional data user, this might be about the best option on the block.

    Virgin Mobile launching prepaid MiFi next week originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Jun 2010 07:54:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • HTC Wildfire priced by T-Mobile, coming to UK on June 14

    HTC Wildfire priced by T-Mobile, coming to UK on June 14

    Posted on May 19, 2010 | No Comments
    The biggest outstanding question about the Wildfire has now been answered by at least one carrier -- T-Mobile will be delivering HTC's student-friendly handset at the £20 ($29) per month price point on two-year contracts. Frankly, that's a bigger financial commitment than we'd expected to have to make, but it will presumably include unlimited (which in T-Mobile lingo means a 3GB fair use policy) data use and a healthy allowance of calls and texts. If that doesn't rub you up the right way, look out for Virgin Mobile to reveal its pricing in the near term, having announced it'll be carrying the phone via a tweet.

    Continue reading HTC Wildfire priced by T-Mobile, coming to UK on June 14

    HTC Wildfire priced by T-Mobile, coming to UK on June 14 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 May 2010 05:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Virgin’s commerical spacecraft has itself a merry little test flight

    Virgin’s commerical spacecraft has itself a merry little test flight

    Posted on March 23, 2010 | No Comments
    The world’s first manned commercial spacecraft flight took place just a few hours ago, and it was a smashing success. Within a few years, we’ll all fly to Jupiter on our lunch breaks, drink a café com leite while doodling away on our iPad 5GXs, then come back to the office to pretend to do [...]

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  • Virgin Mobile looks ready to euthanize Helio brand, Ocean 2 vanishes

    Virgin Mobile looks ready to euthanize Helio brand, Ocean 2 vanishes

    Posted on October 28, 2009 | No Comments

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    Back in our day, the kiddies all ran around with Helios, VK Mobile looked like it could be the next Pantech, and "Kickflip" was a phone, not a skateboarding move. Okay, fine -- we knew like one or two people that used Helio, VK Mobile never even made a dent in the US market, and skateboarding had a lock on kickflips long before the wireless industry did -- and actually, that perfect storm of bad news may have ultimately led the once-promising MVNO to the sad situation we have here today under Virgin Mobile's stewardship. Virgin has now all but erased the memory of Helio from its website, leaving just the Ocean and Mysto to soldier on -- and the phones now go by their ODM's names (Pantech and Samsung, respectively) rather than Helio proper. The strangest part is that the Ocean seems to have outlasted its replacement, the Ocean 2, which is now gone -- unless you hit up Virgin Mobile's Korean language site, a sub-brand in itself that it inherited from Helio and has a track record of giving members of the community better, faster access to hot devices. Any way you slice it, though, it never made sense for Virgin to run two brands -- Helio's fate was sealed the moment the sale was finalized, but considering the company's spot-on mantra of "bring awesome Asian phone tech to North America," we'll always have a soft spot in our hearts for these guys.

    [Via MobileCrunch]

    Virgin Mobile looks ready to euthanize Helio brand, Ocean 2 vanishes originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 05:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Google Gives The Ultimate Holiday Gift: Free WiFi On Virgin America Flights

    Google Gives The Ultimate Holiday Gift: Free WiFi On Virgin America Flights

    Posted on October 19, 2009 | No Comments
    Google is going to make a lot of frequent flyers, and Virgin America, happy this holiday season. As a gift to people who fly on Virgin America's WiFi-equipped planes, Google will be footing the bill for everybody on board between November 10, 2009, and January 15, 2010. For Google, this is a smart marketing move because it generates tons of good will among everyone who flies Virgin America. But Google is really giving a gift to Virgin America in the form of yet one more incentive to fly its planes over competitors'. Will American Airlines and others with WiFi on board have to respond with their own freebie giveaways? I hope so.

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  • Sprint puts $483 million on the table for Virgin Mobile USA

    Sprint puts $483 million on the table for Virgin Mobile USA

    Posted on July 28, 2009 | No Comments
    In what looks to be shaping up to be another healthy week for M&A activity, Sprint Nextel is putting more of its focus on the prepaid cell phone service market with a $483 million deal to buy out Virgin Mobile USA. The acquisition, which was announced earlier this morning, calls for Sprint to pay $5.50 in stock for each Virgin Mobile share, a 31 percent premium to the MVNO's closing share price Monday of $4.21. The deal is expected to receive approval either in the fall or in early 2010. Sprint Nextel actually already owned 13.1 percent of Virgin Mobile, which uses the carrier's network to offer service to some 5.2 million subscribers. The deal cancels out Virgin's $248 million in outstanding debts and will unite Sprint's Boost service and Virgin Mobile under the same roof. Sprint says it would keep the Virgin Mobile brand and let Virgin Mobile USA's CEO Dan Schulman, run Sprint's entire prepaid business if and when the deal closes late this year or early next.

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