Tag Archive for 'Virgin'

Virgin Mobile to sponsor Big Brother 9

Published by Stuart Houghton on May 9, 2008 in Biz & Tech. 0 Comments

bb.gifIt’s nearly that time of year again.  12 (or 13, or 2000 - who knows what they will try this time) eager telly wannabes will line up to be put under the Big Brother microscope and have their personality flaws broadcast thoughout the land.

After last year’s little Celebrity BB racism problem (Jade Goody, Danielle Thingy and that one from S Club 7 sniggering  at Shilpa Shetty’s hilariously foreign name and treating her like a second class celebrity citizen, in case you blotted it out) the series’ sponsors Carphone Warehouse dropped out and were replaced by Virgin Mobile.

This must have turned out ok for all concerned, because Virgin have decided to sponsor the upcoming series 9 as well.

According to James Kydd, managing director of marketing and brand for Virgin Media”Big Brother is a ratings powerhouse, it is a perfect fit with the Virgin Mobile brand.”

The best news to come out of this press release is that the company have developed a load of new ‘bumpers’ to go before and after the adverts.  The worst thing about BB is having to sit through the same ‘amusing’ mini sketch-cum-advert clips again and again.. and again.

Well, maybe not the worst thing.   That would probably be the young lady finding a disturbing recreational use for an empty wine bottle.  Not exactly on-brand for the sponsor, that.



Virgin trains get mobile reception boost, commuters warned to watch what they say

Published by Stuart Houghton on April 9, 2008 in Biz & Tech and Other stuff. 0 Comments

virgin.jpgLoudly informing loved ones that you are ON THE TRAIN will soon be much clearer - or it will if you are on one of the 52 Virgin trains that are to receive signal repeaters to boost mobile reception.

Repeaters grab 2G & 3G signals, boost them and retransmit them. Virgin plans to roll out repeaters on all 52 trains running its London to Glasgow route by November this year.

The ability to chat on the train might come at a cost though - a survey by Vodfone into business users phone habits reckons that around 70% of people have discussed business in public on their mobile and around 15 % have spoken about confidential business information over the phone.

On the flipside, a worrying 26 % claim to have followed up on evesdriopped business leads.

It’s good to talk, but maybe it’s better to text?



Sagem’s golden touch for my220x at only £12.49

Published by Chris Leonard on November 21, 2007 in Handsets. 0 Comments

Sagem my220x gold.JPGSagem’s gone all bling with its my220x with gold trim and what’s more it isn’t at bling prices - how does £12.49 grab you?

Obviously at this price the my220x’s gold trim is only paint, but it has a ’subtle’ gold trim and disc menu button. It’s also tiny - we’re talking 65g in weight and 10mm thick.

As for features? Well, it is pretty basic with a colour screen, handsfree capability SMS and vibration. And that’s it. No camera, no MP3 player, just a bit of gold paint.

The my220x is available now on Virgin pre-pay from Argos (£12.49) and Woolworths (£14.99).

It’s lacking in features, but at only £12-£14 for a small, stylish handset, it’s tempting to buy it and get it unlocked for a tenner – it’ll still be cheaper than most other handsets out there.