18th November 2004 - Nokia and Virgin Mobile USA,
LLC today announced that the two companies intend
to work together to introduce a Nokia CDMA handset
through Virgin Mobile's retail channels in early 2005.
This collaboration marks the first time these two
industry-leading brands have come together in the
United States market.
"By putting the Nokia and Virgin Mobile names
together, we will leverage the strength of two of
the world's best known and most recognized brands,"
said Tim Eckersley, senior vice president for Nokia.
"We think that the addition of Nokia's award-winning
design and user-friendly operation to Virgin Mobile's
strong retail marketing and 'Pay As You Go' value
proposition will result in a truly compelling offering."
Nokia first entered the CDMA handset market in 1992,
and today many of the largest CDMA carriers in the
world, including the two largest CDMA operators in
the US, offer Nokia's CDMA handsets. After previous
launches in the United Kingdom and Australia, Virgin
Mobile entered the US market in 2002, and today its
products are available at more than 20,000 locations
including Best Buy, Target, Wal*Mart and, of course,
Virgin Megastores. Virgin Mobile focuses exclusively
on the youth market and offers all of its customers
access to VirginXtras - a suite of fun-filled applications,
which includes exclusive content from *MTV, Comedy
Central content, Superphonic (a.k.a real-music) ringtones
and more. Its 3G customers also have access to VirginXL,
the high octane version of VirginXtras, with picture
messaging and downloadable games.
"Virgin Mobile and Nokia are both world-class
brands," said Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile
USA. "By combining the marketing strength of
our respective teams, we are confident that we will
deliver a product that will truly resonate with and
engage young wireless users."
About Virgin Mobile USA, LLC
Launched nationally in July of 2002, Virgin Mobile
USA, LLC has redefined and set the pace for the entire
prepaid wireless category. More than two million wireless
users have chosen Virgin Mobile's Pay As You Go service
with no contracts and no hidden fees. In addition,
J.D. Power and Associates has recognized Virgin Mobile
for providing "An Outstanding Customer Service
Experience" under its Certified Call Center Program(SM).
