Today is a sad day in the life of our favorite MVNO network as Helio store managers are reporting they have been notified that some of the nationwide retail stores will be closing. While we are sad to bring this news, we are more concerned with the future of Helio handsets, specifically the Helio Ocean 2. With dual sliding handsets being a very rare breed, we were excited to test the next generation in Helio QWERTY, but the future is uncertain. With the end of SK Telecom’s half billion dollar enterprise, the Virgin merger is looking to be a total takeover.
The end of Helio looks to be an all to familiar fate in the life of MVNO networks, with only Virgin and a handful of networks still operating. Whether or not MVNO networks can remain profitable in the uncertain economic forecast in the United States remains to be seen. RIP Helio, hopefully there will be an Ocean 2 launching on Virgin.
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The Ocean 2 is still launching
http://www.ocean2promo.com
and Helio is still going strong. The move is to reduce operating costs by cutting the direct channel which has been unprofitable from the onset and concentrating on the indirect channel and large retailers which has been the winning strategy at Virgin Mobile. It’s not only good if there is any merger, so that Virgin and Helio’s distribution will be in unison but it is a good long term low cost strategy as well.
Once Ocean 2 launches in the next few days, it will not matter any way as it will be one of the most technically advanced products out in the market to date.
http://www.heliobuy.com