Virgin Mobile USA to Purchase Helio

Here's some interesting news from the wireless phone industry. According to a Reuters article, Virgin Mobile USA is set to acquire Helio, the U.S. mobile arm of South Korea's SK Telecom Co. The sum involve in this deal has not been disclosed and the deal is far from final. Sources have indicated that the terms agreed upon by both parties are loose.

The article also cited that this decision was reached because combining the struggling businesses of both parties was sen as beneficial. The announcement about this deal is expected to be released in the near future. However, SK Telecom did not offer any comments that would confirm this merge between struggling mobile phone carriers.

Mobile phone experts say that this is a good move from both companies even if there's no guarantee that the combined company will succeed. If the deals becomes complete, then SK Telecom can reduce risks from the U.S. business.

They expect the combination to work because Virgin Mobile has a scale and Helio has strong services. Some experts believe that the Virgin-Helio merge make sense because both companies target young customers and rent space on Sprint's network.

Helio is owned by SK who holds 69 percent and EarthLink Inc who governs 28 percent. According to the article, Virgin Mobile USA has expressed a desire to purchase the 69% of Helio owned by SK Telecom. However, there is no clear information whether Earthlink will sell its share of Helio to Virgin Mobile.

The initial terms of the agreement states that once Virgin Mobile USA takes over, SK Telecom would agree to invest a nominal amount of money in Helio. The agreement indicate that Helio will be injected into Virgin Mobile USA and the Virgin brand will be retained.

Well, this is certainly interesting. This merger may give Virgin Mobile the push it needs to become a major mobile phone carrier. Then again, it might also result in a rough merge similar to Sprint and Nextel. Tune in to this blog for more news and info on the world of wireless.

The Cost of Making the 3G iPhone

With the 3G iPhone taking the mobile phone world by storm, a lot of stories have circulated about this popular device. One of the recent stories ion the 3G iPhone involves the actual cost of making one. According to Portelligent Inc., the raw cost of materials to build the 3G iPhone could be nearly half that of the original model.

Portelligent Inc., an Austin, Texas-based teardown specialist, claim that their tests show that the iPhone 3G could have a BOM as low as $100. Some experts say that Apple decided to cut the cost on the next generation iPhone to be able to extend its toehold in the massive mobile phone market.

Here's a statement from David Carey, the president of Portelligent,

Gen2 iPhone pricing is aggressive enough that it made me think Apple's really taking the gloves off on this one. They are probably not as worried about iPhone hardware profits as they are about getting a piece of the action on service revenues and getting more Macs in homes and offices all around the globe.

The 3G iPhone have 3G and GPS chipsets that are expensive materials but Apple is saving on other components. For instance, the handset's display for the new device is about fifty percent cheaper because of engineering changes.

However, Portelligent’s conclusions are not final because the company didn’t actually have an actual iPhone 3G for their evaluation.

Well, this is certainly interesting because I thought that the 3G iPhone will be more expensive to make than the first model. Then again, there are no clear answers yet because the company admitted that they were unable to test the real thing. Perhaps they will get the chance when the 3G iPhone launches in July 11.

Experts are predicting that the 3G iPhone will even be more popular than the original version. The new phone is bring sold for only $199 so that may mean that Apple's profits may be down. However, the lower price and the anticipation for a faster iPhone means that the 3g version may sell more units than the original.

Apple is also bringing the 3G iPhone to numerous countries which means more units will be sold. The iPhone maker has announced agreements with a wide range of carriers across Asia, Europe and the U.S. On July 11, more than 20 countries will begin selling the 3G iPhone. Apple officials have said that before the year ends 50 carriers will provide the handset to mobile phone users through out the globe.

Well, I think mobile phone users appreciate that the new iPhone has a cheaper price tag. There is no doubt that the device has a great influence in the mobile phone industry. The cheaper iPhone has even encouraged Sprint to sell the Samsung Instinct for about $130. We'll see how things progress when the 3G iPhone hits the stores on July 11th.

3G iPhone Finally Launched

Finally. After months of endless rumor and intrigue, the 3G iPhone is finally here.

As many expected, Apple's Steve Jobs announced the 3G version of the hit mobile phone/ipod at WWDC 2008. Die hard fans of Apple's iPhone can finally rest after a long, leak-filled wait, because Apple finally took the wraps off the 3G version.

Let me offer a short summary of the events that unfolded. This piece of info is all over the web so you can easily get the long version if you prefer to read through all of it. Let's begin.

The next generation iPhone offers obviously but Apple is ensuring that it's available to international markets. This means that the company is making an effort to make the 3G version work with enterprises and run 3rd party applications for a reasonable fee.

According to Apple and Steve Jobs, The 3G iPhone speeds are superior to all the current competition. They claim that its pageloads are 36% faster when compared to other multi media devices such as the N95 and Treo 750. And the old EDGE data speeds offer no comparison to the current 3G speed of the newly introduced device.

There has been a lot of discussions over the battery life of the new iPhone because 3G is notorious when it comes to draining batteries. Apple has tackled this issue and announced that the new device will offer 300 hours of standby, 8-10 hours of 2G talk, 5 hours of 3G talk, 7 hours of video and 24 hours of audio.

The announcement at WWDC 2008 confirmed rumors that the new device from Apple will offer GPS. The new iPhone is using A-GPS, which supplements regular satellite GPS data with info from cellular towers. It also offers WiFi data is which will enable users a pretty connection in every location.

Apple also announced that they are planning to launch the 3G iPhone in 70 countries this year. The 8GB version will be sold for $199 and the white 16GB version for $299. However, both versions still require a contract. On July 11, Apple's very anticipated device will be hit 22 markets including the US. I can't wait for July 11.

Stay tune to this blog for wireless topics and more.