You Say Goodbye, I Say Helio

If Helio had a theme song for a 2008 Soundtrack it would be the altered Beatles song mentioned in the title. With “You” being Helio Customers and “I” being Virgin Mobile. Virgin Mobile has just acquired Helio for $39 Million Dollars.

Helio was one of the most popular MVNO’s and considered to be the most innovative. MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operators - the actual carriers like AT&T and Verizon Wireless are MNOs. The difference? Helio purchased service from carriers and resold it to customers, making them “virtual” operators.

MVNOs are short lived and dying breed with Virgin Mobile being one of the last well known brand standing. There are some smaller ones out there but the future may not be too bright giving Helio’s fate.

One thing that could possibly revive these MVNO’s would be a willingness to adopt the open source phones such as Android, Limo Foundation phones and Open Source Symbian phones. If the put the user before the agenda of profits, as the main carriers will seemingly do, they may be able to gobble enough interested onlookers. But how long would that last before the big guys pull a simple switcheroo and cut them right back out?

BGR got a hold of a few Question and Answers about the aquisition from an internal e-mail that was leaked. Apparently customers will not lose service during the transition - it will be seamless - and it will take place over a gradual phasing out period.

Here is the email:

Q: What does this mean for current HELIO members? Can I still use my HELIO device, while keeping my HELIO service plan and number?

A: Current service plans will continue without interruption. HELIO members are at the center of this transaction and we’ll continue to bring them the innovative mobile services they’ve come to expect.

Q: Can new members still sign up for HELIO service?

A: Absolutely. HELIO will continue to offer exclusive, high-end devices and our innovative All-In plans.

Q: Will the HELIO brand be retained, or will everything migrate to Virgin Mobile USA?

A: Over time, we expect that all aspects of the customer experience will be integrated under the Virgin Mobile USA brand.  Integration of the direct sales channel will begin immediately, and we expect that existing HELIO products and services will soon be offered through the Virgin Mobile USA website at www.virginmobileusa.com.

Q: So what’s next?

A: We’re excited by the possibilities our new, combined team offers. We have some big ideas, but as you can imagine, a little bit of housekeeping is in order before we share them. Stay tuned!

Q: Does this affect my current contract with HELIO in any way? When Virgin Mobile USA does acquire HELIO, can I end my current contract without paying an early termination fee (ETF)?

A: HELIO contracts remain in effect and unchanged by this transaction. HELIO members who wish to end their contract early will still be subject to an early termination fee (ETF).

[Via BGR, Engadget]

Open Source Symbian: 2010 or Later

The muffled hoopla surrounding around Android enjoyed a temporary spike in interest earlier this week when Symbian, the operating system on more smart phones than any other platform, announced they wree going Open Source. The explosion of articles pitting Open Source Symbian vs. Android could not be avoided.

As usual, people broke out their “Jump to Conclusions Pad,” and begun writing articles claiming that Android and the iPhone are doomed, Symbian will rule the world and its only a matter of time! Muahahah. Afterall, developers can start building for the platform TODAY and were promised their applications would work on the first devices to come out.

And then we found out the earliest these open source Symbian phones will launch is 2010. Before me start making assumptions about NEXT decade the 1.5 years left in THIS decade will have a lot to say.

That’s not to say that Symbian should be written off or underestimated - afterally, they DO dominate the smart phone platform market and their Open Source announcement is incredibly meaningful. While there won’t be any immediate implications it illustrates the direction in which the mobile industry is headed.

And we like that direction.

Whether the iPhone, Android, Open Source Symbian or another platform earns dominance in the next decade, it doesn’t really make a difference. We’re just happy to see this strong movement and new direction the mobile world is taking towards providing consumers with the greatest choice and flexibility.

Or we could be bitter… took ya long enough, didn’t it?

Cell Phone Tricks from Google!

How to blend your iPhone! How to save the world with Google Maps for Mobile! You can learn it all with a new YouTube Mobile Tricks Channel that Google has started for mobile enthusiasts to share great tricks and tips for their mobile phones:

And while blending your iPhone and saving the world probably aren’t on your “to do list”, chances are that this could be a great place to learn a thing or two. Or you could just subscribe to the Mobile Roar RSS Feed because we’ll keep you up to date with the best ones anyways!

Watch the iPhone turn into a smoothie:

Watch a regular guy save the world with Google Maps for Mobile:

[Via Google Mobile Blog]

Eh, It’s Aboot Time: Canada Gets GOOG-411

Today, Google announced that they have expanded their Free 411 informational service from the United States to Canada. Now Canadians, whether from “Traw-na” or “Cal-gry” have quick and free access to phone numbers of local businesses and residents by calling 1-800-GOOG-411.

This isn’t just about expanding the boundaries… the same Canadianisms like “eh”, “aboot”, “Traw-na” and “Cal-gry” used above are actually taken into account by Google:

“At Google, we work hard to tailor products to specific markets and regions. We believe that accounting for the unique characteristics of each country can make the difference between an OK service and a great one. Although English is spoken in both the US and Canada, there are enough differences between the way it’s spoken in the two countries that we engineered GOOG-411 especially for Canadian English.”

Instead of asking you for City and State, Canadians calling GOOG 411 will be prompted with City and Province. So smart you are, Mr. Google! But what if a Canadian is in America and calls GOOG-411… take that!

Anyone who doesn’t know about GOOG-411 or hasn’t tried it definitely should. It’s 100% free and can be really helpful. Go ahead and throw your Yellow Pages in the garbage ladies and gents.

Here’s a video about GOOG 411

[Via Google Mobile Blog]

4 New Sprint Phones Launching Sunday

Sprint is launching 4 brand new phones on Sunday, Father’s Day. And while they are technically “new”, you’ll likely think they’re about as “groovy” and “jiving” as the forced lingo your wannabe cool dad uses. ALL of the following phones feature Push-To-Talk Technology.

First up is the the LG LX400, is a clamshell with push-to-talk Q-Chat feature, 1.3 MP camera, GPS and bluetooth that will set you back $79.99 with a 2-year contract and rebates:

Next we have the Samsung Z400 which claims it is rugged enough to pass Military Specification 810F for conditions such as dust, temperature and altitude. Doesn’t this sound like the upcoming Motorola Adventure for Sprint? These two will likely go head to head, with the rugged nature being the top selling point. $99.99 with 2 years and rebates.

The Sanyo Pro-200 and Pro-700 are pretty run of the mill as well, but do boast e-mail support. The Pro 200 runs $49.99 with 2 years and rebates. The Pro-700 is the exact same phone but ruggedized to pass those Military Specifications 810F you keep hearing about.

[Via Sprint]

Real Pictures of the BlackBerry Thunder!

Rumors of the BlackBerry Thunder have been spreading like wildfire ever since the BGR dropped news on the upcoming and unannounced device. He created a “mockup” of what HE thought the device would look like, many people confusing it for official pictures.

Now the BGR has the REAL pictures and he wasn’t far off. Emblazoned with a Verizon Wireless logo, the phone is rumored to be a lifetime exclusive on Verizon’s network.

Just when you thought the weekend was slipping away with nothing notable happening… The phone has all the buttons we expected… Send, Menu, Escape and End with a few odds and ends here and there. It looks as beautiful as we thought it would, but a few questions remain. Mainly:

  1. Is BlackBerry capable of putting out a highly competitive product with the BlackBerry Thunder since it is their first ever attempt at creating a touchscreen? Or, can we expect it to have flaws that the BlackBerry brand can’t overcome?
  2. We want one… when does it come out?

It’s amazing how one guy got the scoop on EVERYTHING for this phone… finding the rumors before anyone else, announcing them, making an oh-so-accurate mock-up, disputing claims of others that it didn’t exist and now releasing these.

Big props to the Boy Genius Report!

Deep Talks to Done Deal: Verizon Buys Alltel

That didn’t take long. Less than 24 hours after a CNBC article verified Verizon was in “deep talks” to purchase Alltel, the deal closes. The final figure is $28.1 Billion - which is a steal considering what Alltel brings to their network, including reach to rural areas and network compatibility. A synergy exists there for sure.

The deal should close by year end so long as it gets regulatory approval without too much trouble. Here is the full press release:

June 5, 2008

VERIZON WIRELESS TO ACQUIRE ALLTEL; WILL EXPAND NATION’S MOST RELIABLE WIRELESS NETWORK

Verizon Wireless has entered into an agreement with Alltel Corporation and Atlantis Holdings LLC, an affiliate of private investment firm TPG Capital and GS Capital Partners, to acquire Alltel Corporation in a cash merger. Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD).

Under the terms of the agreement, Verizon Wireless will acquire the equity of Alltel for approximately $5.9 billion. Based on Alltel’s projected net debt at closing of $22.2 billion, the aggregate value of the transaction is $28.1 billion.

The parties are targeting completion of the merger by the end of the year, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals.

Once this transaction closes, customers of both companies will have access to an expanded range of products and services, including a premier lineup of basic and advanced devices and an expanded IN Network calling community. Alltel customers also will benefit from advanced services including over-the-air downloadable music from a three-million-song library, and a network that is nationwide, for a uniform coast-to-coast experience. They also will be able to take advantage of industry-leading consumer policies, including Test Drive and Worry Free Guarantee®.

“This move will create an enhanced platform of network coverage, spectrum and customer care to better serve the growing needs of both Alltel and Verizon Wireless customers for reliable basic and advanced broadband wireless services,” said Lowell McAdam, Verizon Wireless president and chief executive officer.

Alltel serves more than 13 million customers in markets in 34 states. This includes 57 primarily rural markets that Verizon Wireless does not serve. The transaction puts the Alltel markets and customers on a path to advanced 4th generation services as Verizon Wireless deploys LTE technology throughout its network over the next several years. Alltel’s customers also will reap the benefits of Verizon Wireless’ Open Development initiative, which welcomes third-party devices and services to use the Verizon Wireless network.

Verizon Communications, the owner of the majority stake in Verizon Wireless, expects that the transaction will be immediately accretive, excluding transaction and integration costs. “This is a perfect fit, with Alltel’s high-value post-paid customer base, its solid financials, our common network technology, and significant, readily attainable synergies,” said Ivan Seidenberg, Verizon chief executive officer and chairman of the Verizon board. “Verizon Wireless’ acquisition of Alltel clearly provides opportunities for enhanced value for Verizon shareholders.”

Alltel President and Chief Executive Officer Scott Ford will continue in his current position as head of Alltel until the merger is completed.

“Both Alltel and Verizon Wireless have long track records of delivering a high-quality customer experience in the marketplace,” Ford said. “The combination of our two companies will continue and improve upon that heritage as, together, we can more quickly deliver an expanded range of innovative products and services to our customers.”

Verizon Wireless expects to realize synergies with a net present value, after integration costs, of more than $9 billion driven by reduced capital and operating expense savings. Synergies are expected to generate incremental cost savings of $1 billion in the second year after closing.

Alltel and Verizon Wireless both use a common network technology, which provides advantages of a seamless transition for Alltel customers, ease in integrating the two companies’ networks, and scale efficiencies in operating the larger integrated network.

Morgan Stanley acted as financial advisor to Verizon Wireless on this transaction and is providing bridge financing. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP acted as legal advisor to Verizon Wireless.

Citibank, Goldman Sachs and RBS advised the sellers on the transaction. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz acted as legal advisor to Alltel, and Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Ropes & Gray LLP acted as legal advisors to the sellers.

Verizon Plots to Purchase Alltel

The rumors have circulated before without action, but according to CNBC, Verizon is on the verge of acquiring the 5th largest Wireless Carrier in the United States (Alltel) for $27 Billion Dollars.

The current American Mobile market looks like this:

The purchase of Alltel would allow VZW to hurdle above AT&T as the #1 American mobile carrier with nearly 10 million more subscribers - a huge margin.

The move would further consolidate what is already a race with limited horses. In the past few years AT&T and Cingular merged (well, kind of) and Sprint bought Nextel. In addition to Verizon buying Alltel, rumors have persisted that T-Mobile is interested in the possible purchase of Sprint.

If both deals happened, the market would look like this (estimated):

Will this consolidation be good or bad for consumers? Well, while the mobile carriers are consolidating we’re seeing mobile software opening, thanks in part to Google’s Android. But with all this change, where is the wireless industry heading?

We’ll keep you posted.

Mobile Projectors: Business Phones Just Got Busier

Mobile devices do a lot more than make phone calls these days, but this announcement is pretty incredible. Later THIS YEAR, handsets will be released with PROJECTION capabilities embedded.

No more hauling a laptop around to give that PowerPoint Presentation to the board of Directors - just whip your phone out of your pocket and set it on the table! Want to watch a movie? Find a wall and whip out your mobile. The years of teenage pranksters beaming annoying laser pointers on the movie screen are over - instead, beam another movie overtop the current movie!


Seriously though, this presents some amazing opportunities to further pack productivity and entertainment into that little handset in your pocket. We hope to be further amazed when the technology is made available to consumers.

Unfortunately, it’s not likely that most consumers will be able to afford the technology, so it’ll probably be more of a niche distribution. The ground breaking technology is being made available by Texas Instruments.

[Via IntoMobile, UnwiredView & DigiTimes]

Android Top 50, Links and Descriptions

Google has announced the 50 Winners of Android Developer Challenge Round 1. Well… okay, we lied. They only announced 46 because 4 of the lucky 50 wanted their applications kept secret. Those buggers!

Here is the announcement form Google: http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2008/05/top-50-applications.html

But below, we’ve published a more exhaustive list from Phandroid.com that has links and descriptions for most of the winning applications:

  1. AndroidScan - Use your phone to scan a barcode, get pricing information from dozens of stores, product reviews and more. Never make a bad purchase again! (by Jeffrey Sharkey)
  2. Beetaun - Social network around geographical content created by people and for people (from your neighborhood, from your city, from your country, from all over the world). By Sergey Gritsyuk and Dmitri Shipilov
  3. BioWallet - Jose Luis Huertas Fernandez
  4. BreadCrumbz -Navigate your route using pictures instead of a map (there’s also a map, if you like). Easily record routes using your smartphone. Share them with your friends, share them with the world. By Amos Yoffe
  5. CallACab - Konrad Huebner and Henning Boeger
  6. City Slikkers - PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems
  7. Commandro - Commandro shows where are your friends REALLY are and what they’re doing at the moment. Using GPS location information, it will display 100% true real-life event and location information with regards to you and your friends. By Alex Pisarev, Andrey Tapekha.
  8. Cooking Capsules -Simply “watch” a very short cooking show, “shop” with the grocery list, and “make” using the handy step-by-step recipe directions. If you are out of your usual neighborhood you can use the ‘find nearest market’ gps feature. If your friend is stopping at the market, simply hit the ’send to friend’ button to text your list to them. By Mary Ann Cotter and Muthuselvam Ramadoss
  9. Diggin - Daniel Johansson, Aramis Waernbaum, Andreas Hedin
  10. Dyno - Virachat Boondharigaputra
  11. e-ventr - Michael Zitzelsberger
  12. Eco2go - Reduce your carbon footprint. Eco2go finds and suggests public transit alternatives for your trips - right on your phone. By Taneem Talukdar, Gary Pong, Jeff Kao and Robert Lam
  13. Em-Radar - Jack Kwok
  14. fingerprint - Robert Mickle
  15. FreeFamilyWatch - Navee Technologies LLC
  16. goCart - Rylan Barnes
  17. GolfPlay - give support to all the real time necessities of a golf player during a game, using GPS location and an online querying site where it is possible to access to their game statistics, tournament creation and a social network to exchange impressions with other users about the sport that links them: golf. By Inizziativa Networks
  18. gWalk - Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus ten Hagen, Christian Klinger, Marko Modsching, Rene Scholze
  19. HandWx - Delivers 7-Day weather forecasts to your phone. By Weathertop Consulting LLC.
  20. IMEasy - Yan Shi
  21. Jigsaw - Mikhail Ksenzov
  22. JOYity - Coming soon. By Zelfi AG.
  23. LifeAware - Gregory Moore, Aaron L. Obrien, Jawad Akhtar
  24. Locale - Locale is one of 7 Android applications submitted by MIT students. It enables you to set up location- and time-based profiles for your phone, so you can make it shut up when you’re at work, forward calls to your landline when you’re at home. Clare Bayley, Christina Wright, Jasper Lin, Carter Jernigan.
  25. LReady Emergency Manager - Chris Hulls, Dilpreet Singh, Luis Carvalho, Phuong Nguyen
  26. Marvin - Marvin allows you to publish and browse geo-localized objects around you. Objects can be static or move by themselves and follow you. You publish and browse where you are, based on your current location or where you virtually are on the map. By Pontier Laurent.
  27. Mobeedo - Mobile Search. By Sengaro GmbH.
  28. Multiple Facets Instant Messenger - Virgil Dobjanschi
  29. MyCloset - Mamoru Tokashiki
  30. PedNav - an application that helps you plan your activities efficiently when moving around and interacting with an urban environment. Like a good personal assistant, PedNav first inquires about your general plans for the day. By RouteMe2 Technologies Inc.
  31. Phonebook 2.0 - Coming soon. By Voxmobili.
  32. PicSay - Eric Wijngaard
  33. PiggyBack - Christophe Petit and Sebastien Petit
  34. Pocket Journey - connects your location to the voices of a global community of artists, historians, architects, musician, comedians, and others so you can quickly know everything about anywhere. By Anthony Stevens and Rosie Pongracz.
  35. Rayfarla - Rayfarla turns your phone into a musical instrument as well as providing a variety of mini games that are music related. I’m not saying too much about Rayfarla at the moment as I’m now in competition with 49 other semifinalists but suffice to say there will be some interesting twists when it is finally released on hardware. By Stephen Oldmeadow.
  36. Safety Net - Michael DeJadon
  37. SocialMonster - Ben Siu-Lung Hui and Tommy Ng
  38. SplashPlay - SplashPlay offers the next generation in musical tuition and learning to play the guitar just got a whole lot easier. Simply attach the pod and light panel to your guitar and start strumming to your favourite songs in minutes. Songs are sent to the pod from a mobile phone or computer using a USB or Bluetooth connection, giving total portability. Other features include a guitar tuner, guitar metronome and a hands free, Bluetooth foot pedal. The product will provide an easy, portable and fun method of learning music.
  39. Sustain- Keeping Your Social Network Alive - Niraj Swami
  40. SynchroSpot - Shaun Terry
  41. Talkplay - Sung Suh Park
  42. Teradesk - José Augusto Athayde Ferrarini
  43. The Weather Channel for Android - The Weather Channel Interactive Inc.
  44. TuneWiki - Our goal is to have the lyrics always on, always available, always synchronized to music - on any device that can play music back and connect to the internet. By TuneWiki Inc.
  45. Wikitude-the Mobile Travel Guide - Find points of interest based on your current location. By Philipp Breuss.
  46. Writing Pad - ShapeWriter is an innovative, original, fun, and highly efficient method of entering text into touch screen mobile phones. ShapeWriter lets the user to simply draw a continuous stroke from letter to letter on a soft keyboard and lift to complete the word. The resulting trace is recognized as the intended word. For example: to write the word “fun”, land the pen (or mouse cursor) on the F key, drag to the U key, continue to the N key and lift up the pen. ShapeWriter recognizes the curso trace F-U-N as the word “fun”.By ShapeWriter Inc.

[Via Phandroid]

Sprint’s XOHM Ready to ROAM

Executives at Sprint probably find a place of complete internal reflection when they watch the Sitcom Friends and hear the theme song lyrics, “When it hasn’t been your day, your week, your month - or even your year (or two).”

Clearwire will be there for you.

The Wall Street Journal and Fortune (CNN) are both reporting that Kirkland, Washington based Clearwire Corp. is close to reaching a $12 Billion Dollar Joint Venture with Sprint that could resurrect the company’s once promising XOHM and WiMax revolution (via MocoNews).

Sprint has been inundated with various rumors lately, from selling out to T-Mobile to spinning off Nextel and now this. The truth is that the rumors are all probably equally true because if Sprint has proved one thing lately, it’s that they don’t know WHAT the hell they are doing. They could certainly use this helping hand.

But the help isn’t only coming from Clearwire… no-no-no-no-no… because Clearwire has recently received billions of dollars in 3rd party funding from the likes of:

Looks like Sprint chose to share copies of the house key instead of getting evicted. Nextel might still get spun off… Sprint might still get sold to T-Mobile… but it’s pretty clear that XOHM/WiMax is Sprint’s ticket out of the doghouse and if sharing it will salvage the company, ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

So what is WiMax and what is XOHM?

You know how people have been “raving” about the upcoming 3G iPhone and how quick and responsive it will be because of how fast the 3G network speeds are? Well WiMax is equivalent to 4G and is a generic technology. XOHM is Sprint’s branded execution of that technology and they were the first to announce their pursuit of WiMax integration. The network is capable of providing both mobile phone service and wireless internet connectivity.

They shelved the project for many reasons, but mostly because the company is a train wreck. The Nextel merger didn’t do much except complicate things… and while experts have raved about what XOHM could accomplish, the situation amounted to having a really, really hot fiance with too much freaking baggage. The Joint Venture with Clearwire represents the figurative prenuptial agreement with mandatory marriage counseling.

Both sources (see above) are warning that the deal is not final and it’s possible nothing gets done. It would be shame, because this joint venture could take a once proud company back to new heights.

The crazy thing about all of this is that the Joint Venture would operate solely under the Clearwire name. Comcast and TimeWarner Cable are both huge providers of Internet connection and Google is just getting it’s foot in the Mobile Phone door. Intel is an emerging provider of chips for mobile devices and holy geez could this pot get stewed up any more?

The bottom line is that this is good (if successful) for everyone. Consumers will get their magical 4G speeds. Sprint finds resurgence and momentum to breathe life back into the company. Clearwire finds a flagship product. And, all those Clearwire financial providers get to test their respective waters without the risks and burden of going it alone.

Hey Head Honchos will you do us all a favor? Sit down at that table and don’t get up until you’ve reached an agreement.

Earth to Samsung: Politics R Scrwd Enuff K? Thx!

Samsung has just reported the findings of a survey asking Americans about the prospect of voting for their next President of the United States via Text Message. To put it nicely… we think their results are…. well… stupid.

Lets clear something up. In our lazy, technology dependent society everybody is going to opt for the easier method of getting things done. If you asked anyone age 18 to 50 if they would rather go to the grocery store, buy sandwich ingredients, drive home, make a sandwich and then eat it or press a button on the Jetson’s food maker and have the same thing pop out… WHAT do you think they would say? The small percentage of people opting not to use text message in this survey likely fit into the following groups:

So in light of these findings, we thank you Samsung for trying to be ahead of your time. But please… please… we have enough problems as it is. Although TXT voting might give those digging Ron Paul fanatics a way to game the system against the corporate fraud ring?

Hmmm… this could give “Partisan Hackery” a completely new meaning.

Here are the “meaty” parts of the survey results:

A survey by Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) suggests that many teens and their parents across the U.S. would rather vote by text message on their cell phones in the next election rather than go to the polls. BYE-BYE POLLS

  • More than six in ten (61%a) of respondents of legal voting age, age 18 and older, would be open to voting by text.
  • Eight in ten (80%) teens, ages 13-17, say that if they were allowed to vote in this year’s Presidential election, they’d do it by text message instead of going to the polls.

BIPARTISAN SUPPORT

  • More than half of all Democrats, Republicans and Independents surveyed say that if allowed, they’d text in their Presidential vote.

The survey, commissioned by Samsung Mobile, was conducted by Kelton Research and included 300 American teens ages 13 – 19 and 500 American parents with children ages 13 – 19.

[Via BusinessWire]

1,000 Carphone Stores to Open in US

You read that right… CAR phone stores. Apparently the Carphone Warehouse is one of Europe’s largest retailer of mobile devices, with 2,300 stores spanning the continent. Contrary to what their name suggests, they offer an incredibly wide range of mobile products.

Carphone Warehouse

Okay… before we continue… CARphone Warehouse? Really? You couldn’t have changed your name in the past twenty years to update yourselves a bit? I mean… do you drive around and see any stores called “Typewriter Depot” or “Fax Machine World”? Hire a New Marketing person maybe?

Regardless of their name, they’re about to make a monstrous entry into the United States. And by Monstrous, we mean as big as some of the first Carphones that ever existed. Big like THIS:

Alright… enough with the jokes. Because what Carphone Warehouse is doing is pretty darn serious. They’re partnering with BestBuy to unveil 1,000 stores across the United States. Some of them will be located within BestBuy stores and others will be standalone stores.

Apparently Carphone pioneered the Britain’s independent structure of one store offering all makes and models, allowing customers to truly compare prices, products and services. The company has taken it even further by leading the industry in after sale services… and profiting off them, too.

These are bright guys… and in this ever competitive industry perhaps they can help take BestBuy’s mobile department to the next level. However, we hope they’ll consider altering their name at least for the America’s. It’s one thing to grow up with a service that becomes outdated… but pushing the ancient name “Carphone” down consumers’ throats may not be the best way to make a cutting edge first impression.