{"id":3480,"date":"2009-04-03T14:12:37","date_gmt":"2009-04-03T22:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wapreview.com\/?p=3480"},"modified":"2009-04-03T18:25:48","modified_gmt":"2009-04-04T02:25:48","slug":"virgin-mobile-us-to-bundle-opera-mini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/3480\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Mobile US to Bundle Opera Mini"},"content":{"rendered":"

$\"Opera$ <\/p>\n

At CTIA, Opera Software and Virgin Mobile USA (VM) announced<\/a> a deal where the operator will bundle Opera Mini with future handsets.\u00a0 In the US, Virgin Mobile is a join venture between Richard Branson’s\u00a0 Virgin Group and Sprint\/Nextel.<\/p>\n

Starting April 14th, users of eight current Virgin Mobile phones will be able to download Opera Mini 4.2 for free from the VirginXL on-deck app store.\u00a0 Although eight phones are said to be supported, Virgin has only named four; the Samsung M310 Slash, UTStarcom CDM-8074 Arc,\u00a0PCD CDM-8964 Shuttle, and UTStarcom CDM-1450 Super Slice<\/p>\n

If you are a VM customer and can’t wait, users on Howard Forums<\/a> have been reporting that they have been able to download Opera Mini simply by visiting mini.opera.com<\/a> with the phone’s built in browser.\u00a0 This has been confirmed as working on the Slash,\u00a0Kyocera M1000 Wild Card and LG LX-160 Flare.\u00a0 Virgin has traditionally blocked all off deck downloads and that still seems to be the case except for Opera Mini.<\/p>\n

The deal with Virgin should be a great win for Opera.\u00a0\u00a0 Mini’s a runaway success in most markets but hasn’t really caught on in the US, mostly because none of the BREW based CDMA networks (Verizon, Alltel, US Cellular) offer it and T-Mobile’s cripples the firmware on their branded handsets to\u00a0 block third party apps from accessing the network.\u00a0 Even on AT&T and Sprint certain Opera Mini functions like uploading and downloading\u00a0 files and saving pages for offline access are blocked by the operators.\u00a0 Virgin is a sizable (6 million subs) youth oriented operator.\u00a0 I can see Opera Mini generating considerable buzz among the Virgin Mobile demographic.<\/p>\n

The one thing that might kill it is Virgin’s rather greedy data pricing. To use Opera you must purchase a monthly data package. There is no unlimited option, prepaid users have a choice of 5MB for $5, 20MB for $10 or 50MB for $20.\u00a0 Customers on Virgin’s hybrid monthly plans which start at $30 get 20MB for $5 or 50MB for $10.\u00a0 That’s rather expensive.\u00a0 50 MB represents about 30 hours of web surfing using Opera Mini or an hour a day for a month.\u00a0 The other US prepaid carriers that offer data tend to be cheaper; Verizon’s unlimited data is $1 a day (charged only on days used), AT&T gives you 100MB for $20, Boost has unlimited for $10.50\/month, STI’s so-called “unlimited” is 30 cents a day but is capped at 12MB\/week.\u00a0 Even the best of these are expensive in comparison with most European and Asian operators.\u00a0 In my opinion, charging more than $15\/month for unlimited data on the sort of basic feature phones that Virgin sells is pure highway robbery.<\/p>\n

I rather doubt that Virgin will allow downloading files with Opera Mini either.\u00a0 That would have a negative effect on lucrative VirginXL ringtone, wallpaper and game sales. Virgin is actually the worst US operator when it comes to locking and crippling handsets.\u00a0 It’s virtually impossible to tether any VM phone or download from off-portal sites.\u00a0 If you want a game or tone you have no choice but to purchase from Virgin’s walled garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"