Mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) have been having one hell of a time over the past year. The biggest burnout among them was Amp’d Mobile, which lost $360M before realizing its customers couldn’t pay their bills. While Helio rode high for quite some time, that company has also lost Earthlink as an investor, seen CEO Sky Dayton depart, and accumulated a deficit of $560M. Now Sonopia, an MVNO that enabled communities and organizations to set up their own branded mobile services (so-called “mini-MVNOs”), has also shut down after failing to gain traction. According to a former business development consultant, Sonopia’s “approach was too ‘involving’ and too ambitious, offering targeted services and campaigns for segmented groups…which often lacked skills in running even a marketing program, let alone a mobile service.” Apparently the inflexibility of Verizon, its parent carrier, and the over-zealous optimism of founder Juha Christensen also led the company to ruin. Sonopia is now in the TechCrunch DeadPool. → Read More
A small Maine-based mobile company is opening its arms to Amp’d Mobile refugees. Prexar Mobile has secured the right to offer contract-free monthly plans to former Amp’d customers who, until now, had to choose between switching to Verizon or using their phones as decorative lumps of useless crap. → Read More
You just know that this is going to end in a Hollywood movie. Matt Marshall at Venture Beat has the scoop on what the Amp’d team were spending part of their $360 million in venture capital on: porn. According to the asset list from the Apm’d fire sale, the company acquired at least 100 porn DVDs; least that’s the number listed for the auction (we’d presume additional DVD’s were probably taken home). As Matt put it so well “We’re still wondering how venture investors such as Redpoint (which lost $25 million in this) and Highland (which lost $50 million) could have let this happen.” Amp’d declared bankruptcy June 2 owing $100 million. Full coverage of the Amp’d meltdown on TechCrunch here. UPDATE: A correction printed at Venture Beat notes that these might not have been DVD’s, but some sort of X rated content Amp’d produced, they look like DVD’s and certainly we are unwilling to repeat the names of them here to prove the point. Aside from the still very valid questions about how Amp’d blew $360million in funding and ran up $100million in debt, there are now some interesting questions as to why a company primarily marketing to teens was producing X-Rated content. → Read More
On my way home from dinner I decided to stop by the Verizon store below my apartment to ask about an Amp’d Motorola Q in my possession. I just wanted to know if I could port an existing Verizon number to the Q. Amp’d does piggyback on Verizon’s network, so I figured I’d get a yes. The Q&A section of Amp’d’s site states that I can take my phone to another CDMA network without any fuss. This does not hold true. The customer rep told me that I wouldn’t be able to use my Q because it doesn’t have Verizon branding. WTF?! Way to charge your existing customers up the ass and spurn those new customers you could potentially be making money off of. Put another notch on the bed post. Can you hear me now, morons? → Read More
It seems like the only way for virtual mobile operators (MVNOs) to get any news today is by shutting down. Amp’d, the high-flying mobile operator, is powering down on July 24. Or to be more accurate, they are “potentially suspending US operations on July 24th.” I guess TechCrunch could be suspending U.S. operations on July 24, too, but we wouldn’t be posting that unless we thought it was pretty certain to be happening. The company has been going through bankruptcy but it was not certain they would be shutting down until now. Meanwhile competitor Helio, which entered the market at about the same time as Amp’d, keeps on surging. Last week they announced that they reached 100,000 customers and have ARPU (average revenue per user) of $100 – way above the average for mobile startups. A lot of Helio’s success can be attributed to their new Ocean, a killer dual-slider phone. I actually considered using the Ocean over the iPhone because it has a keyboard and great instant messaging support, but it doesn’t sync with Macs. → Read More
This could be the final week for mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) Amp’d Mobile, which had previously filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last month. Last week Verizon Wireless, the carrier that provides the network services for Amp’d, had petitioned a judge to allow it to cease services to the MVNO. Amp’d had been behind on the charges it owed to Verizon, and it is the same even for MVNOs. You don’t pay your bills, the service is cut off. Where this leaves Amp’d Mobile’s customers isn’t so clear, but at this point it would be a good idea to consider looking for a new carrier. [Via MobileBurn] → Read More
mocoNews is reporting that Peter Adderton has left the building! The embattled CEO has stepped down as CEO of Amp’d Mobile, and the company’s president Bill Stone is main company figure in the bankruptcy proceedings. Amp’d Mobile, which was founded and funded by Adderton before any VC funding, is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy and further management overhauls are rumored to be expected. Peter Adderton Offically Out Of Amp’d Mobile → Read More
This is simply an “interesting idea” from In-Stat analyst, Allen Nogee, and what he thinks will happen to bankrupt Amp’d. He believes Amp’d’s daddy, Qualcomm, will save the MVNO and use it as a test bed for new services. Not a bad idea, right? → Read More
Could things get worse for Amp’d Mobile? Well things can always get worse. But today, the word is that Verizon could make things very bad indeed. Over at sister site Crunchgear they’re saying that Verizon might be about to turn off the service to Amp’d Mobile. Verizon asked Amp’d to come up with $4.5 million within 10 days or face a shut down. This could leave the customers high and dry, but Amp’d is blaming their troubles to non-paying customers in the first place. So what goes around? [via Phone Scoop] → Read More
When Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) Amp’d declared bankruptcy earlier this week, a lot of people pointed to competitor Helio as the next one to fall. There are suspicious similarities between the companies. Amp’d launched in the U.S. in December 2005. Helio entered the market just a few months later, in May 2006. Amp’d raised $360 million in capital, Helio raised $440 million from parent companies Earthlink and SK Telecom. Amp’d claims 200,000 subscribers, and says it grew so fast that its back-end infrastructure couldn’t keep up with demand, requiring the bankruptcy filing. But Amp’d is a MVNO and uses Verizon’s cellular networks, suggesting that there may be a bigger, or at least an additional, problem. Industry insiders point to poor financial management and credit terms that were so easy that a good portion of Amp’d customers aren’t paying their bills. I spoke to a company spokesperson for Helio today to see how they are doing. They are riding high on the launch of their new Ocean device (also pictured above), a high end dual slide phone that flips up for a number pad and sideways for a full QWERTY keyboard. They claim to have nearly 100,000 customers and are on pace to generate $130 million in revenue over the next twelve months. Helio’s service is pretty cool (I have a couple of demo phones that I’ve tested). Integration with IM networks and MySpace is seemless. The devices are actually designed by Helio and built to their specifications, whereas Amp’d devices were off-the-shelf varieties that customers could get from any carrier. Helio was also the first cell phone company in the U.S. to offer phones with GPS capabilities, allowing users to see where they are, get directions to places they want to go, and also see the physical location of all of their friends who use Helio. That last feature has proven to be viral, the company says. As soon as one person gets the phone, a few friends are likely to join soon thereafter. A lot of Helio’s revenue comes from download purchases, such as music videos. Users can also gift downloads to friends, or beg them to give them one as a gift. It all results in more downloads, and more revenue for Helio. Helio may end up with the same fate as Amp’d, but there is at least some evidence that the company may have a rosier → Read More
Amp’d Mobile, a popular Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO), has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. The company competed with VelvetPuffin, Loopt and Helio in an attempt to deliver a compelling mobile based social networking product to a worldwide marketplace of 2.6 billion cell phone users. According to mocoNews, Amp’d Mobile owes $33 million to Verizon Wireless, $16 million to Motorola and $10 million to Vivendi. Smaller creditors include BestBuy at $8 million and MTV Networks: $1.8 million. Total debt is more than $100 million with assets less than that figure. Amp’d Mobile had previously taken $360 million in funding over 5 rounds. Investors include RedPoint Ventures, Highland Capital Partners and Columbia Capital. Amp’d Mobile is now in the TechCrunch Deadpool. → Read More
A recently leaked document all but confirms the imminent launch of the Moto Q under Amp’d Mobile’s moniker. The user guide is copyrighted 2007 so the launch could be very soon. Unfortunately, the guide doesn’t give us any more details than we already know, but Amp’d Live will offer up some tasty mobile entertainment. You’ll be able to watch your favorite shows from ABC, MTV, and Comedy Central just to name a few. Deep Indie, The Joint, MTV Radio and a slew of others will provide streaming music to your device as well. Let’s hope it’s running WinMo 6.0 for Amp’d Mobile’s sake. User Guide [via Engadget Mobile] → Read More
It’s nigh impossible to open a magazine these days without finding a four-page ad spread telling you that Helio is not just a phone. Nope, its a “Friendar” too! And, even better, it gives you instant access to MySpace! Wow! These ads are the product of one of the largest technology marketing campaigns in recent memory. Unfortunately, they are nearly assuring that Helio will be a gargantuan money-losing debacle. In fact, I’d venture to say that all MVNOs (those smaller cell phone carriers such as Boost Mobile, AMPd, and Helio that essentially rent network space from another carrier) are slowly headed the way of the now-dead ESPN Mobile. And its a shame, because having more competition and consumer choice should help consumers. But it doesn’t have to be this way. MVNOs CAN succeed, click the jump to see how… → Read More
We just received an anonymous tip on Amp’d Mobile, claiming the youth-oriented network is planning on leveraging its hybrid pricing plans to become the first MVNO to offer smartphones. While this sounds like bullpucky at first, the tipster included these photos (that appear to be real) of what looks like an Amp’d-branded Motorola Q. That got our attention. While it’s known that Amp’d has love for Moto, this is completely out of left field. If true, however, it’s not just exciting news to the network’s customers, but also a sign of the coming of the “casual smartphone user,” as smartphones move out of the office and into the hands of soccer moms and NASCAR dads across the country. The tipster, sadly, has no stats for the Amp’d Q (which will probably have another name if and when it’s launched), but it’s likely to be the same as the Verizon version, running Windows Mobile 5: Smartphone Edition, though the photos don’t show the operating system, so this isn’t for sure. ‘Nother pic after the drop. → Read More
