News 2000
Virgin Mobile unveils easy-to-use wap service and new range of phones
25/07/2000
Virgin Mobile today unveiled its no-hassle, easy-to-use WAP portal, with its best of British content.
Virgin Mobile Recommends, connects people with 12 best of breed content providers including lastminute.com, UnmissableTV, Yahoo! UK & Ireland, Trafficmaster and interactive investor international (iii).
The Recommends service lets customers with one of Virgin Mobile’s new WAP phones gain easy access to news, information and e-commerce from its six content categories: travel, entertainment, sport, shopping, finance and a personal section - ‘more’.
Virgin Mobile Recommends:
Travel
- Lastminute.com - information and offers on hotels, flights, gifts, entertainment and restaurants.
- Trafficmaster - WAP mapping that allows you to see where the traffic jams are.
- Leisurehunt - online guide to 100,000 hotels, guest houses and B&Bs worldwide.
Entertainment
- Virgin Radio - a guide to what’s on air, plus music and film trivia.
- T3 - gadget reviews and the latest must-have accessories based on the popular magazine.
- UnmissableTV - a guide to absolutely everything on TV, when it’s on and what not to miss, including regional listings.
- Ents24.com - entertainment in pubs, clubs and theatres around the country.
- Ludiwap - play Valdo Adventures, a pirate game online.
Sport
- Formula 1 (wapprofit.com) - thrills, spills and news from the world of Grand Prix plus live lap-by-lap updates.
- WAParesult.com - all the scores from football, rugby, cricket, horseracing, motor racing, tennis and golf.
Shopping
- Xtras Shop - connect to Virgin Mobile; Virgin Wines; Megastores Direct for music, videos and games; and Virgin Mobile Electrical for discounts worth 10-20% off high street prices on fridges, washing machines, as well as TVs, stereos and video recorders.
Finance
- interactive investor international - stay up to date with share prices from the London Stock Market and see performance charts over one day, one month and one year.
More...
- Yahoo! - for your daily digest of news, business, sport, horoscopes and weather
- Your WAP! - go to any WAP site of your choice.
Virgin Mobile Recommends also features on-line help which includes answers to most Frequently Asked Questions. Customers can also browse any WAP site they choose to outside the Virgin Mobile Portal and can even bookmark their favourite sites.
Virgin Mobile’s Wireless Media Manager, Garry Lloyd, said: "Virgin Mobile Recommends works. Take the phone out of your box and it will do just what it says it will - connect to WAP sites. We are giving our customers the easiest, simplest, most meaningful experience of WAP. Too many of our rivals have over-hyped it and disappointed people. Virgin Mobile Recommends is a practical service available right now, and is the perfect addition to our existing value added services in Virgin Xtras. Other operators have confused the consumer by talking up products and services which have yet to appear".
Virgin Mobile’s WAP portal compliments its existing shopping and information service, Virgin Xtras, which offers a range of discounted products and services, including a virtual electrical superstore, discounted travel, and deals on music, computer games and wine.
The WAP service is a key part of Virgin Mobile’s development strategy; the company aims to be a leader of wireless services and will be building on the portal over the coming months.
