News 2005
Virgin Mobile launches exclusive youth brand of mobile phones
02/06/2005
- First phone in the new Lobster range to offer great functionality at a breakthrough price
02.06.05: Virgin Mobile today unveiled an exclusive brand of mobile phones aimed at 16-30 year olds, under the brand name, “Lobster". All Lobster phones will offer desirable new products and technology at breakthrough prices. Virgin Mobile will build a series of promotions, merchandise, PR and advertising campaigns around the Lobster brand as the range develops in the coming months.
The debut phone in the range, the Lobster 485 will be one of the smallest flip handsets available in Europe boasting an impressive 262k colour screen and a high quality integrated VGA camera for just £89.99. This palm-sized phone in brushed steel effect with black trim will be widely available from Virgin Mobile stockists across the UK from early June.
A number of further stylish Lobster-branded phones will be launched throughout 2005 and beyond. All Lobster phones will feature a Virgin-branded red shortcut key, giving fast access to Virgin Mobile’s entertainment content service, BITES. Updated daily, it covers music, celebrity news and gossip, humour, sport and recommendations of new, cool products exclusively for Virgin Mobile’s customers.
The Lobster 485 has been created for Virgin Mobile by Korean manufacturer, Bellwave, through its distributor Data Select. Bellwave was chosen for its outstanding product options, engineering expertise and ability to build great designed phones to a consistently high standard.
Data Select, the UK distribution arm of the Phones International Group, will manage the product sourcing, packaging, logistics, distribution and fulfillment of the Lobster range for Virgin Mobile.
Graeme Hutchinson, sales and marketing director at Virgin Mobile said: "The Lobster 485 marks the beginning of an exciting new portfolio of phones for our customers, demonstrating desirable innovation, great functionality, excellent design that’s easy to use and great value for money. The products emerging under the Lobster brand will all complement the excellent products coming from the established mobile phone brands over the coming year and beyond.”
Peter Jones Chairman and CEO of Phones International Group said: "We are delighted that Virgin Mobile has chosen Data Select as its partner for virtual manufacturing. It's exciting to be working with a company that has such a strong focus on customer service and delivering truly innovative products and services to its customers."
Lobster 485 Specification:
The Lobster 485 comes with £5 airtime, battery and charger.
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For further press information please contact:
Virgin Mobile Telecoms Ltd:
Jo Baker, Virgin Mobile press office
07941 233300 or 0845 6006272
pressoffice@virginmobile.com
For review units, artwork and further information , please contact:
Big-mouths PR:
Lisa Hulme or Sarah Baron
0207 385 0009
virginmobile@big-mouths.com
Phones International Group
Eric White, Marketing & Communications Director
eric.white@phonesint.com
01628 539800 / 01628 539881
About Virgin Mobile
Virgin Mobile Holdings (UK) plc, the UK's largest mobile virtual network operator, is majority owned by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and uses T-Mobile's network. Since its launch in November 1999, Virgin Mobile has attracted more than 5.3 million customers.
In the UK, Virgin Mobile phones are available direct on 0845 6000 600; on the web at www.virginmobile.com or on the high street at approximately 5,000 outlets including Virgin Mobile Stores within Virgin Megastores, The Carphone Warehouse, The Link, Dixons, Phones 4 U, Curry's, Comet, Tesco, Asda, John Lewis, Argos, TOMO, Woolworths, Toys R Us and Ryman plus hundreds of independents mobile phones dealers and available via Shop Direct, Littlewoods, Grattan and Empire home shopping channels.
Virgin Mobile employs approximately 1,400 staff at three sites, Trowbridge, London and Daventry, and has an outsourced customer service centre operated by approximately 200 staff in Middlesbrough.
Virgin Mobile's customers were found to be the most-satisfied mobile consumers in the pre-pay sector for two years running in 2005 and 2004, according to the surveys by J.D. Power and Associates. Virgin Mobile is also featured in `The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For’ list 2005 and is part of the FTSE4Good Index.
About Bellwave:
Founded in September 1999 and headquartered in Seoul, Bellwave Co., Ltd. is a leading Original Design Engineering (ODE) Company in the world. Offering affordable, high-quality wireless communication devices, Bellwave specializes in innovative, feature-rich mobile multimedia products including GSM mobile phones and CDMA wireless data modules.
About Data Select:
Founded in 1998, Data Select is a dynamic business within the Phones International Group, one of Europe's fastest growing enterprises and a leader in the delivery of wireless communications solutions. Data Select specialises in the distribution of mobile products and solutions with a portfolio of core business offerings, combining mobile logistics, distribution and fulfillment, configuration and related mobile support services. It's recently launched Virtual Manufacturing Division now offers an exciting range of handset brands from Asia, to the European network operators and retailers.
