Merger? : Helio and Virgin Mobile in Talks to Join Forces
Could everyone's favorite MVNO be looking to merge with a less cool but bigger and badder MVNO? Could be.
Multiple media outlets have been reporting that Helio (everyone's fave, if you ask me) and Virgin Mobile USA (actually bigger and badder than Helio) are in talks to join forces. Details are a little bit sketchy right now, but one scenario desribed by The Washington Post has Helio's parent company SK Telecom buying out Virgin Mobile USA and then pouring some cash into the company to fund a VMUSA buyout of Helio. Whether or not that happens, several other potential investors have been mentioned as being sources of cash or even possible takeover bids for VMUSA. So this could all get complicated pretty quickly.
Helio and Virgin Mobile both operate on Sprint's CDMA network, though, so at least the technology part of things should be relatively painless. And despite their financial woes and customer service troubles, Helio's made a name for themselves by churning out some seriously cool handsets and services. So at the least, Virgin Mobile could benefit from Helio's tech and design expertise. Who knows if this will actually go down, but the Washington Post did quote VMUSA CEO Dan Schulman as saying, "we believe that there are opportunities for us in terms of non-organic growth, such as another MVNO, or capability set that we might be able to avail ourselves of." So this rumor has some teeth to it at the least. We'll keep you posted. Closely Related StuffSprint's going all out marketing the Samsung Instinct against the Apple iPhone. Here's the first of five smackdown videos: Instinct vs iPhone commercial 1, GPS. Part two of our hands-on look at Instinct, the new do-it-all device from Sprint and Samsung. We check out text messaging, and go behind the velvet rope at the launch party. Rock Band! Wakeboarding! Pizza! Noah goes hands on with the HTC Shift in this video, and learns what this CDMA version for the Sprint network can do. This ultramobile PC is a windows touchscreen device that uses Vista, and can run via WiFi or EVDO connection via Sprint. The HTC Shift also offers a Snap View interface which highlights your "day at a glance". Is this Sprint's iPhone killer? Noah goes hands-on with the new flagship Samsung Instinct phone at CTIA 2008 in Las Vegas. The Samsung Instinct is a new 3G touchscreen device with a custom UI that will be available at Sprint early this summer. Looking for a great messaging phone to use on the Sprint network? Well, Noah has found one in the LG Rumor. The bar style device come equipped with a slide out QWERTY keyboard that when opened, automatically switches the phone to messaging mode. Other key features include a 1.3 megapixel camera with 2x zoom, media player, and expandable memory card slot. Unlocked episode 1 with Noah from PhoneDog.com. Apple unveils the iPhone SDK and announces iFund. Unlimited plans take center stage with Sprint and Helio leading the way. Hands-on with the Helio Mysto and Palm Centro for Sprint. Could everyone's favorite MVNO be looking to merge with a less cool but bigger and badder MVNO? Could be.
Multiple media outlets have been reporting that Helio (everyone's fave, if you ask me) and Virgin Mobile USA (actually bigger and badder than Helio) are in talks to join forces. Details are a little bit sketchy right now, but one scenario desribed by The Washington Post has Helio's parent company SK Telecom buying out Virgin Mobile USA and then pouring some cash into the... Wow, Sprint's trying to steal some of that Microsoft-Yahoo! merger thunder, huh? First they hit the headlines as a possible acquisition target for Deutsch Telekom (T-Mobile's parent co.) and now this.
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Essentially the same device as the Touch that launched on Sprint last year, the XV900 is a slim touchscreen smartphone running Windows Mobile 6 professional topped off by HTC's handy... |
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