About.com
April 11, 2009
Prepaid Wireless Plan: Virgin Mobile Launches $49.99 Unlimited Plan
Adam Fendelman
Competition is continuing to cut costs on today's prepaid wireless plans. When Virgin Mobile undercut the cell phone market in 2008 with a $79.99 unlimited plan, rivals fired back. Boost Mobile has since unveilied an unlimited plan for $50 and Cricket Wireless went unlimited at the $45 level (but without a complete national wireless network). Virgin Mobile on April 15, 2009 will become industry competitive again with a new "Totally Unlimited" prepaid voice calling plan for $49.99 that comes with no roaming charges and no contract. In addition to lowering its unlimited price, the prepaid wireless leader is also offering an attractive "Pink Slip Protection" program that comes free with the new $49.99 plan as well as other Virgin Mobile $29.99 or $39.99 monthly plans without annual contracts. The recession-friendly program will waive up to three months of monthly charges if a Virgin Mobile customer becomes unemployed.
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Los Angeles Times
April 10, 2009
Virgin Mobile Unveils Pink Slip Protection Plan
Alana Semuels
As the old saying goes, nothing in life is free. Unless , apparently, you're unemployed. Virgin Mobile on Thursday announced a Pink Slip Protection plan that waives as many as three months of wireless phone chrages if a customer is laid off. It follows simliar protection plans from Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Hyundai Motor Co. "The economy affects everybody, and it certainly affects our customers," said Jayne Wallace, spokeswoman for Virgin Mobile USA. "And our customers have said they've been changing their usage because money is tight." Virgin Mobile will pay as much as $90 a month for three months. The wireless carrier is offering the Pink Slip Protection Plan in part because unemployment issues tend to affect its prepaid base more than its customers on annual plans, said Wallace. "Customers are in fear of losing a job in this economy," said Justin Manfredi, director of client services at the Door Agency, a Los Angeles based advertising firm. "Anything a brand or company can do to say 'We understand what you're going through and we're here to help you' is good."
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Reuters
April 10, 2009
Virgin Gives U.S. Mobile Users Who Lose Job A Break
Sinead Carew
Virgin Mobile USA has taken inspiration from car makers with a promise to waive three months of cellphone fees for customers who lose their jobs, a move it hopes will attract news business. The company said on Thursday that new customers of its monthly service plans, including its latest offering -- a $49.99 a month unlimited calling service -- would now be automatically enrolled in its "Pink Slip Protection" program. Under the program, Virgin will cover monthly bills, including taxes and surcharges, for up to three months for users who have lost their jobs as long as they have been customers for at least two months and are eligible for unemployment benefits.
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Wall Street Journal
April 10, 2009
Virgin Mobile Joins Rivals in Lowering Prices
Roger Cheng
Virgin Mobile matched rivals with a $50 unlimited wireless calling plan and unveiled a program to temporarily help customers who have lost their jobs. The Warren, N.J., provider of pre-paid wireless services cut its existing "Totally Unlimited" plan by $30 to put it on par with similiar plans offered by a number of pre-paid players. It also added unlimited nights and weekends to its cheaper plans in a bid to capture a growing population of people looking to save money and avoid service contracts. The new plans "play to the situation of our customers find themselves in these economic times," Virgin Mobile Chieft Executive Officer Dan Schulman said in an interview. "What we've done is not only give a great rate, but provide flexibility on it."
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About.com
February 16, 2009
Is Prepaid Wireless or a Monthly Contract Cheaper?
Adam Fendelman
While monthly cell phone plans where you're schackled to a one-or-two year service contract are the norm in the United States, plans to pay as you go for prepaid cell phone are popular throughout Europe. While many contract-based plans have learned to take into account changing monthly habits, the draw to using 100 minutes in one month and 1,000 minutes the next while fairly paying for the difference is the kicker for other pay-as-you-go people. But what's the real difference between the two pricing models in an apples-to-apples comparision? Let's explore that question. For the purposes, of this analysis I'm highlighting two populare pay-as-you-go companies: the ever-popular Virgin Mobile (which caters to younger and often more fickle demographic) and Verizon Wireless. To see full article, click on link below.
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CNET
April 6, 2007
CNET editor's review
Reviewed by: Kent German
"Virgin Mobile never tries to be more than what it is, and that's a good thing. The company has carefully cultivated an image of a hip, cool carrier that produces cheap, basic cell phones for the youth market. Granted, not every phone from the carrier has been a winner, but Virgin Mobile still accomplishes what it sets out to do. The latest model, the Kyocera Marbl (K127), isn't quite as flashy as the Kyocera Cyclops but it's still a decent phones for making calls. And at $29, it's a steal ...You can personalize the Marbl with a variety of color themes, wallpapers, screensavers, and alert sounds. Personalization has always been a big Virgin Mobile theme, so naturally you can get more options via the WAP 2.0 wireless Web browser and the carrier's VirginXL service. For playtime, the Marbl offers two games: Brick Attack and Race 21."

New York Times
January 20, 2007
Madison Avenue Calling
"Virgin Mobile USA introduced a program last summer it calls Sugar Mama that compensates its phone users with free calling minutes for watching commercials, reading text messages and taking surveys from brands. Advertisers like the United States Navy and Levi Strauss Signature are showing ads through Virgin Mobile USA's program, in part, because they liked the idea of compensating customers for the time they spend watching their ads."

Reuters News
January 4, 2007
Virgin Mobile USA reaches 4.6 million subscribers
"Wireless service provider Virgin Mobile USA said on Thursday it has added 600,000 subscribers since April, bringing its customer base to 4.6 million. The venture of Richard Branson's Virgin [VA.UL] and Sprint Nextel Corp. is one of the biggest of several U.S. companies that rent space on established networks to sell mobile phone services to very specific market segments. Virgin, which charges customers for calls in advance rather than via monthly bills, was the first provider to focus mainly on the U.S. youth market when it launched in July 2002, using Sprint's network."

PC Magazine
October 17, 2006
Readers' Choice
"Rating the cellular universe can be tricky. Satisfaction with service providers is driven by network quality, but also by the phones offered. Satisfaction with phones is driven by the network. We start by comparing the major services, seperating contracts from prepaid plans. If you'd rather pay by the call, the readers recommend Virgin. They're happy with the fees as well as the service itself, giving Virgin an overall score of 7.4 out of 10."

Build It, Patch It, Paint It...
September 22, 2006
Build It, Patch It, Paint It...
"The Who (down to Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend after 40 years), the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gnarls Barkley and the Flaming Lips take breaks from their own tours to headline the first-ever Virgin Festival, sponsored by Virgin Mobile, Saturday in the infield at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. More than 20 acts will perform outdoors on two main stages, and DJs will play in a tented side stage from noon to 10. General admission tickets cost $97.50."

USA Today
August 8, 2006
You Can Judge A Book by its Cell Phone
"Virgin Mobile is expanding beyond mobile music and games to mobile books. Ghost Town, a made-for-mobile phones short story told in chapters of 160-character text messages, arrives on Monday. Virgin Mobile users will be able to sign up to receive two text messages a day over five weeks. Standard text-messaging rates apply. The plot of the text novella is designed to raise awareness about homelessness among teens; its episodes center on a homeless 17-year-old. Users will be able to help determine how the story ends through a text-message poll."

Associated Press
July 7, 2006
A Penniless America ¿ an Idea with Currency, or Lacking Cents?
"In this village settled by thrifty Pilgrims, you can still buy penny candy for a penny, but tourist Alan Ferguson doubts he¿ll be able to dig up any 1-cent pieces out of his pockets. For the first time, the United States Mint has said pennies are costing more than 1 cent to make this year, thanks to higher metal prices. ¿The penny is going to disappear soon unless something changes in the economics of commodities,¿ says Robert Hoge, an expert on North American coins at the American Numismatic Society. Joining with the lobbying, the wireless network, Virgin Mobile USA recently launched a save-the-penny campaign. Its penny truck will travel cross-country to gather pennies for charity."

New York Times
May 30, 2006
Earn Cellphone Minutes by Watching Ads
"With the costs of mobile phone calls already dropping sharply, Virgin Mobile USA plans to announce a way people can talk for no money at all. They will, however, have to pay with a chunk of their attention. The company says that the program, scheduled to be available on June 14, is the first ad-supported cellphone service in the United States."

Wireless Week
March 15, 2005
Virgin Mobile: From Doubt to MVNO Leader
"Back in 2002, skeptics undoubtedly smiled and giggled when Sir Richard Branson wore a mock cell phone on a hot summer day in New York City¿s Times Square. They may not have taken Branson and Virgin Mobile USA seriously then, but they do now that the MVNO has more than 3 million subscribers. That Times Square launch on July 24, 2002, met the accustomed style everyone is familiar with when the word ¿Virgin¿ becomes part of a business name. Branson wore the mock handset to show the MVNO, in his words, ¿has nothing to hide.¿ With 3 million-plus subscribers, Virgin Mobile USA has become not only a success but also somewhat of a model as even more MVNOs have gone into business."

Business Week
December 22, 2004
Richard Branson: Winning Virgin Territory
"If anyone can make a prepaid phone plan seems cool, it¿s Richard Branson. As part of his assault on the fastest-growing segment of the wireless business, the brash chief executive of Virgin Group, Ltd. is employing the same full-frontal sales tactics he brought to music, air travel and vacation resorts. Branson himself showed up nearly naked in New York¿s Times Square a year and a half ago to kick of the 50-50 joint phone venture with Sprint PCS Group. Since then, Virgin Mobile USA LLC has racked up more than 1 million users. The fast start shows that Virgin¿s distinctive lifestyle pitch has connected with many younger consumers. "They've proved a point; that it¿s possible to come in with a new brand," says Adam Guy, senior analyst at Yankee Group."

The New York Times Magazine
November 28, 2004
Risky Business - If teenagers are involved in the development of a cellphone, will it be any cooler?
"Think for example, about cellphones and other wireless technologies. Even the most clueless grown-up probably has some idea that cellphones are integral to current youth culture. Yet it does not necessarily follow that teenagers have the same wants and needs as other mobile-phone users. At least that¿s the premise of Virgin Mobile, which has explicitly designed its products and its brand to attract teenagers and young adults and has so far signed up more than two million customers in the United States."

Wireless Week
March 15, 2003
Virgin's CEO On Teens, MTV and MVNOs
"When Virgin Mobile made its splashy debut in the United States last summer, critics said that the last thing the U.S. market needed was another wireless brand. However, the mobile virtual network operator is gaining credibility in the market, particularly among its target audience: teens and young adults between the ages of 13 and 30. Just six months after launch the company reported having 350,000 net subscribers and said it was averaging about 2,000 subscriber activations a per day."

BusinessWeek Online
October 11, 2002
Virgin's Fresh Approach to Wireless
"At first glance, what Dan Schulman, CEO of wireless-service provider Virgin Mobile USA, is doing seems as daffy as climbing a mountain in a snowstorm. In July, his company jumped into the U.S. market for wireless services, a sector that¿s already suffering from too much competition and falling prices. Virgin¿s strategy? Offering prepaid wireless services, something that other service providers have already abandoned because of lack of profits. However, the novelty to Schulman¿s approach lies in its simplicity. Actually, simplicity and flat rates appear to be catching on for both pre-paid and regular wireless services, as users tire of complicated phone plans and fine print."

Wireless Review
August 15, 2002
The Rebirth of Resale
"Schulman knows his company must be unique in every way; from the handsets and content it offers, to the way it delivers that content, right down to the advertising lingo it uses. It will be very much a marketing game, but unlike incumbent providers, Virgin mobile has the advantage of spending all of its promotional dollars on the teen market, without the costs associated with building out and operating a wireless network. The companies Virgin Mobile partners with are critical elements in its MVNO strategy. In all, Schulman and Co. have struck deals with partners that deliver everything from customized mobile phones to back-office and billing systems to voice driven-applications called VirginXtras. In the U.S., optimism reigns. With irreverent slogans like 'Talk cheap and dirty if you want' and 'What's fun, sexy and not looking for a commitment?,' Virgin Mobile clearly fancies itself the new wireless alternative."