The only thing that has managed to match Apple iPods in terms of hype has been the Amp’d MVNO service…and here it is.
People can sign up for service on the website and choose preferences for their handsets, to be shipped before the end of the year”… the service has only one handset so far — the $129 Kyocera Jet, slide phone which looks a lot better than the Kyocera phones I dealth with a few years ago. It’s shorter than an iPod but (as Amp’d demonstrates on its site) bigger than a prophylactic. If you weren’t aware yet, that should give you some idea of Amp’d’s target audience.
The next phone to launch will be the ‘Hollywood’, a Motorola E815. The Hollywood is a flip-phone which is slightly shorter than the Jet. The third phone noted on the site is the Angel — another slide-phone but I couldn’t determine the manufacturer. The prices for these two haven’t been noted yet.
The phones come with an SD Slot and a 128 MB memory card (a 256 MB costs $25), a headset and a Jet Extended Battery.
Amp’d has five plans, ranging from $29.99 for 250 minutes of talking (unlimited nights and weekends) to $199 for unlimited talk time. There’s a three month free trial on data services, but Amp’d also has a $20 unlimited megabyte plan which gives a ballpark figure of what data will cost. That’s really the key, considering Amp’d is differentiating itself on content. The unlimited nights and weekends will also be popular with Amp’d’s target demographic, which tends to be more active at that time than, say, their parents. There’s a few ‘unlimited’ options users can pay extra for, such as unlimited SMS or push-to-talk.
The phone also ships with four pieces of preloaded content: One each of a video, song, ringtone and wallpaper. There’s not much choice, but it does seem to fit the target demographic.
The service has pretty good coverage (it runs on Verizon’s high-speed network). This is the bare bones of the launch, I’m sure there’ll be more throughout the day…
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