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Filed under: Cellphones

So there’s really no telling what’s up with Helio as an MVNO, but there’s plenty going on with the Ocean 2 handset. Just yesterday we noticed a spy shot of the elusive mobile, but unfortunately, the video in which it was captured from had been conveniently removed. Today, however, a whole host of new vids have surfaced over at HelioCity, one of which actually shows the unit while gaming. Check ‘em out while you still can in the read link below.

[Via phonemag]

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Source: Darren Murph

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It wasn’t a pretty end for Amp’d Mobile, but even the hasty one-week extension of service, sale of customers to Prexar and asset liquidation wasn’t enough to keep creditors at bay — the bankrupt company is now suing after its former CEO for cash. Claiming that Peter Adderton “refused to perform certain aspects of his employment” and “threatened to take action that would damage” Amp’d, the lawsuit seeks some $1.15M in payments made. Amp’d is also going after some 20 other partners in similar suits, ranging from Merrill Lynch to law firm Latham and Watkins to Playboy and MTV. We’re not sure how that’s going to play out, but it looks like those rumors about the content team and properties like “Lil’ Bush” being sold off are definitely true — William Morris is in charge of shopping the group out to the highest bidder. All in all, it looks like Amp’d’s creditors aren’t being shy about getting their cash — but what repo man ever is?

[Via mocoNews]

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Source: Nilay Patel

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Filed under: Cellphones

Sky Dayton, founder and chairman of the phantasmagorical Helio, has announced that he’s stepping down as CEO to become president of the last-man-standing MVNO. Dayton will be replacing Jinwoo So, president of global business at SK Telecom (which shares ownership of the company with Earthlink), and Dayton himself will be replaced by Wonhee Sull, formerly the company’s president and COO. “Helio has reached a point in its development where I feel the timing is right for this change… As we have for the past three years, the two of us will continue to define Helio’s direction and future,” said Dayton. It’s possible that with the recent influx of cash (and increased ownership) from SK Telecom, and the dwindling marketshare of MVNOs, Sky’s taking the opportunity to get a little more control of his baby… and who can blame him?

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Cellphones

Sky Dayton, founder and chairman of the phantasmagorical Helio, has announced that he’s stepping down as CEO to become chairman of the board of the last-man-standing MVNO. Dayton will be replacing Jinwoo So, as chairman of the board, while himself being replaced by Wonhee Sull, formerly the company’s president and COO. “Helio has reached a point in its development where I feel the timing is right for this change… As we have for the past three years, the two of us will continue to define Helio’s direction and future,” said Dayton. It’s possible that with the recent influx of cash (and increased ownership) from from its Korean parents and the dwindling marketshare of MVNOs meant that SK felt it was time to step in and get things on track.

Update: Lots of fun title inaccuracies going on up in here. See above for the latest, correct edits.

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Source: Joshua Topolsky

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Filed under: Cellphones

We talked to Helio today and confirmed the reports that the MVNO is laying off about a hundred people from its workforce of about 700. According to Helio, most of the employees being let go were needed during its initial launch period (remember, Helio went official early 2006); about 80 jobs in regional field sales offices were included in the cut (Helio says that’s due to the fact that the bulk of their sales are coming from just a couple of offices) and about 20 jobs at HQ, which are post-launch redundancies. Given EarthLink’s financial dire straits right now (and the firm’s financial ties to Helio as a co-owner), we’d be worried, but Helio was quick to reassure us that sales are booming (July was their best month ever, and August is about to top July), no Helio flagship stores are closing, and the number of Helio kiosks will increase from 30 to 50 this year. Helio’s bottom line: “we don’t want to burn cash like some MVNOs do”. Fair enough — we’re ALL looking at you, Amp’d.

[Via GigaOM]

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Source: Ryan Block

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Filed under: Cellphones

Helio today has announced the Fin, the first flip phone in the carrier’s lineup. For an MVNO making its name with unique powerhouses like the Ocean, the Fin seems downright ordinary — but that’s not quite the case. For one thing, the Fin bests its A717 and m610 lookalikes (all three of which are manufactured by Samsung, coincidentally) in the thickness game, coming in at a svelte 11.4 millimeters to take the crown as the thinnest flip launched in the US. The Fin also totes a rather potent 3 megapixel sensor in its cam, 100MB of internal storage with microSD expansion up to 4GB, and stereo Bluetooth support. As with all of Helio’s more recently launched devices, the Fin includes GPS on board; concurrently with the phone’s release, Helio is announcing Garmin Mobile navigation for the Fin and the Ocean — available for $2.99 per day — for those times when the integrated Google Maps-based nav just doesn’t cut it. Grab Fin starting today for $175.

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

Amp’d’s virtual network may be dead and gone (not really, it got acquired; you know what we mean), but the MVNO had arguably one of the better exclusive content packages out there. Ironically, we’ve heard that Amp’d ultimately spent only a very small fraction of its once-$400 million fortune on the content itself, but hey, maybe they spent that money somewhat wisely. Anyhoo, it seems Peter Adderton and his jolly gang have been shopping themselves around as a one-stop-shop package deal of content, and fixed wireless provider Clearwire may be getting ready to bite. Details are slim at this point, but the synergy is pretty obvious: the former Amp’d crew can concentrate on what it does best — produce entertaining content — and let Clearwire worry about the infrastructure. Lil’ Bush wouldn’t look half bad over WiMAX, yeah?

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Source: Chris Ziegler

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