Virgin Mobile USA and UTStarcom Debut New Camera Phone: The Snapper

Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Just in time for the holiday gift-giving season, Virgin Mobile USA's "The Snapper" camera phone by UTStarcom is set to hit shelves this month. It is the first Virgin Mobile handset to offer the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) service, giving customers the power to chat in real time with friends and family right from the palm of their hand.

"Snapper's compact design, customized mobile content and Internet capabilities make it an ideal choice for our customer base," said Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile USA. "As the wireless industry continues to evolve, we intend to offer an ever-broader array of voice and data services that speak directly to the youth market. Clearly, features like instant messaging combined with a built-in camera and an affordable price point are going to make this a very attractive option."

"With killer features and a very attractive suite of content, this phone is designed for the trend-conscious teen," said Philip Christopher, president of UTStarcom Personal Communications. "We believe Virgin Mobile, as a wireless provider devoted exclusively to the youth market, is a strong partner with whom to launch this handset. We believe we've had great success with our previous Virgin Mobile launches, so we're confident this one has the potential to be an equally smashing success."

Non-Voice Fun
The Snapper is the first Virgin Mobile handset to feature downloadable instant messaging capabilities from America Online, Inc., freeing users who want instant contact with friends from the shackles of their PCs.

Using the camera with built-in flash, customers who snap up the Snapper can send picture messages to other Virgin Mobile users' phones or email addresses and access "My Pix," an online picture storage area on www.virginmobileusa.com, where they can upload pictures from their phone to a personal online picture vault. From there, customers can view pictures, send them to friends or download them to their personal computer.

From the Rescue Ring and SongID to exclusives from *MTV, all Snapper owners have access to "VirginXL" - a suite of downloadable, full-color games, wallpapers, screensavers and much more.

The Specs
The Snapper is Java and 3G-enabled and features a 1.8-inch 65K color CSTN color display. It has a two-way speaker phone and supports Superphonic (a.k.a. real music) ring tones in MP3 format that can be downloaded directly from the handset, or from an online library of thousands of ringtones at www.virginmobileusa.com.

Available at retail this month, the Snapper will be sold through Virgin Mobile retail partners for an MRSP of $149.99.

SOURCE Virgin Mobile USA