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Virgin Mobile introduces GPS service

Joe — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:00:38 +0000

The LG Rumor 2 is a recent addition to Virgin Mobile, and it’s received some hype over the past few months. That’s a mystery to some of our commenters, who think it’s just another junky mid-range phone for Virgin. Others, though, seem to love the device. Virgin is upgrading the experience of the phone by adding a GPS service. Dubbed Virgin Navigator, it will provide basic GPS functions like turn-by-turn directions, traffic, and local attractions like movies, businesses, and even local gas prices. Virgin customers using the Rumor 2 can get the service for $9.99 per month, or $2.99 for a day pass. Virgin Navigator is powered by Networks In Motion, earning it my seal of approval.

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Virgin Mobile introduces GPS service

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Virgin Mobile introduces GPS service

Sprint, Virgin settle lawsuits, clear path for acquisition

Joe — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:30:49 +0000

Not even a week after Sprint announced it would acquire Virgin Mobile, one investor filed suit, claiming that Virgin settled for “substantially below” its market value. This was not the only suit of its kind. Four more investors filed suit in New Jersey state court, and another two filed in New Jersey federal court. The two parties removed those obstacles this week, agreeing to settle the suits. This leaves just one hurdle in the way before the deal can close.

While the settlement is not yet official, Sprint has reached a memo of understanding, which notes that the case will be settled based on certain criteria. For Sprint this means sharing more information about the structure of the deal, as well as the negotiations that preceded it. This will presumably include accounts of the mystery bidder, though the company’s name may remain anonymous.

With these seven lawsuits out of the way, only iPCS’s suit remains between Virgin and Sprint. iPCS, a reseller of Sprint services in Midwest markets, filed suit in September, citing an non-compete agreement it has with Sprint. In certain Midwest markets iPCS is granted exclusive resale rights, meaning Sprint cannot enter those markets to compete. Last year iPCS won a similar suit against Sprint, relating to the Nextel acquisition. The current claim is similar in nature. Many dealers sell Virgin Mobile phones and service in those Midwest markets, meaning the parent company, Sprint, would be in competition with iPCS.

Sprint has called the suit “without merit,” but that is not for them to decide. For now, their acquisition will have to wait until they can either get a judge to see things their way, or else settle with iPCS.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Sprint, Virgin settle lawsuits, clear path for acquisition

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Sprint, Virgin settle lawsuits, clear path for acquisition

Gadget blog gives Virgin Broaband2Go “two thumbs up”

Joe — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:00:14 +0000

My first impression upon hearing about the Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go prepaid Internet service was: way expensive. Yes, it’s prepaid, which is an advantage, but the convenience comes at a cost — one which is far above that of postpaid broadband plans. Scott at Gadling recently took Broadband2Go for a spin, and he found that the price is the only bad thing about the service. Not only does the connection work well, but the software Virgin employs does its job as well, If you’re thinking about getting Broadband2Go, make sure to check out Scott’s review.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Gadget blog gives Virgin Broaband2Go “two thumbs up”

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Gadget blog gives Virgin Broaband2Go “two thumbs up”

MetroPCS, Virgin locked in legal battle over MetroFlash

Joe — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:30:22 +0000

The headline from one year ago: MetroPCS sues Virgin Mobile over MetroFlash program. It sounded curious at the time. Why would MetroPCS sue Virgin Mobile over one of its own programs? News of the issue went on the down low after that, but this week we heard the latest development. Courthouse News has the breakdown. Metro sued Virgin because Virgin approached Metro asking it to cease its MetroFlash program, which reflashes CDMA phones to work on Metro’s network. This prompted Metro to file a preemptory suit against Virgin, which led to the inevitable countersuit from Virgin against Metro.

The claims related to trademark infringement and meddling with customer contracts. Metro’s suit sought a declaration that they are not infringing on Virgin’s trademarks and that they are not meddling with the latter’s contracts. Virgin’s countersuit, obviously, states the opposite.

Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater threw out the contract meddling claim. “[T]he mere possession of a Virgin Mobile-branded handset cannot itself indicate the existence of a contract between Virgin Mobile and the possessor,” wrote Fitzwater. The other claim, of trademark infringement, remains open, because the Virgin trademark still appears on phones that are reflashed for MetroPCS.

The DMCA would seem to solve this case. It states that users can unlock phones with the intent of connecting them to other networks. Since the intent of MetroFlash is to connect phones to the MetroPCS network, it seems unlikely that Fitzwater would rule that users cannot reflash Virgin phones to the MetroPCS network.

So what ruling can come of this? Nothing comes immediately to mind, other than a mandatory covering up or removal of any Virgin Mobile branding from reflashed phones. Clearly, MetroPCS is within its legal right to reflash the phones, so restricting them would lead only to further lawsuits.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

MetroPCS, Virgin locked in legal battle over MetroFlash

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

MetroPCS, Virgin locked in legal battle over MetroFlash

Mystery company tried to acquire Virgin Mobile

Joe — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:30:19 +0000

Sprint’s recent acquisition of Virgin Mobile may have seemingly come out of nowhere for most of us, it had been in the works for quite a while. A recent story on Cellular News chronicles the process, which goes back to late last year. Yet that’s not the most interesting part of the story. According to the report, there was another company which submitted multiple bids to acquire Virgin. Theirs never matched Sprint’s, though, and the deal as we know it happened at the end of July.

As the article says, it seems like some pretty serious interest from the mystery company.

On June 1st, Company X submitted a letter of interest to Virgin Mobile USA, offering a preliminary proposal to acquire the company based on an implied price of $4.27 to $5.00 per share. Company X also proposed to repay all outstanding loans to Virgin Mobile USA by its stockholders. However, there was an existing offer from Sprint Nextel of $5.22 per share, with the same debt repayment proposal. For its part, Virgin Mobile was seeking offers closer to $6.37 per share.

On July 10th, Company X submitted a revised proposal to Virgin Mobile USA that increased the cash consideration to be paid to $5.00 per share but did not propose terms or amendments to some of the other areas of concern that had been raised during their negotiations over the prior month, specifically relating to wireless licenses, trademarks and tax liabilities.

Clearly, Virgin didn’t get what it was seeking as a return. This caused one investor to file suit, but as this story reveals, getting more wasn’t an option. They had two bids and took the better of them. Not only that, but they had some bidding going on. A higher price just wasn’t in the cards.

There’s no official word on the mystery company’s identity (hence “mystery”), but mocoNews.net takes a stab with Tracfone. That would make enough sense. There could be a few others, too. The prize is Sprint’s, though, and they should close the deal within the next few months.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Mystery company tried to acquire Virgin Mobile

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Mystery company tried to acquire Virgin Mobile

LG Rumor 2 definitely coming to Virgin Mobile

Joe — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:00:08 +0000

A few months ago, before we learned of the Virgin Mobile acquisition by Sprint, there were whispers that the LG Rumor 2 would hit the prepaid carrier. It got a couple of positive notes in the comments of that post, so those people are probably happy that this will happen. An Engadget Mobile reader picked it up in contest rules. Which, of course, you can enter if you want to win the Rumor 2.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

LG Rumor 2 definitely coming to Virgin Mobile

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

LG Rumor 2 definitely coming to Virgin Mobile

FTC approves Sprint-Virgin deal

Joe — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:00:06 +0000

It’s one thing for two businesses to agree on a merger. It’s another for it to pass through the anti-trust regulators at the Federal Trade Commission. As we saw with the Verizon-Alltel merger, this can include a number of divestitures and other measures to maintain a level of competition in all markets. It appears that this won’t be an issue in Sprint’s acquisition of Virgin Mobile. The FTC approved the deal yesterday. Next up is the FCC. I wonder how the investor lawsuit against Virgin will affect the FCC’s decision process on this matter.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

FTC approves Sprint-Virgin deal

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

FTC approves Sprint-Virgin deal

Virgin files suit over unpaid Sugar Mama funds

Joe — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 12:30:41 +0000

A little over two months ago, Virgin Mobile announced the termination of its Sugar Mama service. Sugar Mama, run by Ultramercial, rewarded subscribers with free minutes in exchange for viewing ads and taking surveys. A little over two weeks ago we first caught wind that Virgin might sue Ultramercial, but then Sprint bought the company. The issue went away for a while, but late last week it surfaced again. mocoNews.net has dug up Virgin’s complaint against the Sugar Mama provider.

Unsurprisingly, the suit involves Ultramercial’s failure to pay Virgin for services rendered. From the suit:

“Ultramerical over the past several months has failed to remit payments, thereby converting hundreds of thousands of revenue dollars rightfully belonging to Virgin Mobile.”

The total is $814,543. Sugar Mama was a great program while around, but as the suit shows it wasn’t a difference marker for Virgin’s bottom line. Still, it allowed their customers to earn free minutes, a good draw for teenagers. It’s doubtful that anything will rise in its place, which is a shame for Virgin customers who enjoyed the free minutes.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Virgin files suit over unpaid Sugar Mama funds

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Virgin files suit over unpaid Sugar Mama funds

Virgin Mobile seeing more hybrid plan subscribers

Joe — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:53:06 +0000

The bad news for Virgin Mobile: they lost a net 269,000 subscribers in the second quarter. One would think it’s tough to find a silver lining in that, but it’s certainly there for VM. Beyond their acquisition by Sprint Nextel, Virgin saw a consumer shift to more profitable hybrid plans. This allowed their net income to rise while their operating revenue fell. So while Virgin is losing customers like its to-be parent company, at least Virgin is seeing those remaining customers migrate to plans which benefit the company.

It makes sense that hybrid plans — those which mimic contract plans by offering a set number of minutes for a fixed monthly price — would bring in more revenue. On a pay-as-you-go plan, customers will tend to be a bit more frugal with their minutes. When balances run low, they’ll conserve, delaying the purchase of another top-up card. But with hybrid plans, the customer is already locked into a set amount monthly. That gives Virgin a steadier stream of income.

Over the next quarter, Virgin will likely focus on getting more customers on hybrid plans, even if it means losing subscribers overall. As they’ve shown, sometimes more subscribers isn’t always better. Some subscribers are better for business than others, and it seems that Virgin’s bread and butter is the hybrid plan. Perhaps this will be part of an industry-wide movement, where pay-as-you-go customers will move to a carrier like Net10, which specialized in pay-as-you-go, while hybrid customers will pick up Virgin or Boost Mobile.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Virgin Mobile seeing more hybrid plan subscribers

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Virgin Mobile seeing more hybrid plan subscribers

Angry Virgin Mobile investor sues over Sprint acquisition

Joe — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 15:00:32 +0000

Sprint’s acquisition of Virgin Mobile seemingly came out of nowhere, but in the ensuing week it seems most people are okay with the idea. It helps Sprint boost its prepaid portfolio. Typically prepaid isn’t a big money maker, but as we’ve seen in recent quarters, the pace is starting to pick up. So perhaps Sprint picked up an undervalued asset. At least one person thinks they did: James D. Seymour, a Virgin Mobile investor who has filed suit in Trenton, NJ. He calls the acquisition price, $483 million in stock, “grossly unfair.” It is, per his complaint, “substantially below” market value. I doubt this case goes anywhere, but we now know that not everyone is happy with the deal. There’s also no word on when this deal will close, though an educated guess would pin it at late 2009, early 2010.

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Angry Virgin Mobile investor sues over Sprint acquisition

This post originated at PrepaidReviews.com - The number one resource for NET 10 Prepaid information on the web!

Angry Virgin Mobile investor sues over Sprint acquisition