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Virgin Hopes Oystr Phone Is a Pearl

Virgin Hopes Oystr Phone Is a Pearl

Virgin Mobile annoucned that it plans to bring the Kyocera Oystr phone to retailers this week. Like other Virgin Mobile offerings, the thin clamshell phone is aimed at the youth market and sports inexpensive features sure to appeal to the under-drinking-age demographic.

“For teens, a mobile phone is as much a part of their unique style asrunning shoes or sunglasses,” said Tom Maguire, vice president of globalmarketing at Kyocera Wireless Corp. “Oystr’s unique look and feature setwill appeal not only to the youth market Virgin Mobile targets, but also toparents who want a sensible, affordable pre-paid phone for their kids.”

Available in a metallic ivory color, the Oystr offers an internal color display, text-messaging capability, a two-way speakerphone, support for “real-music” ringtones, and sports pre-loaded collections of wallpaper and screensavers. The phone weighs just 3.5 ounces, and offers 3.6 hours of talk time and over 8 days of standbby time on a single charge. The phones will go on sale for $29.99 at more than 25,000 retail location in North America, as well as selected campus bookstores and online vendors. Hands-free headsets, car power adapters, cases, and other accessories will also be available.

“Oystr is sleek and simple with great functionality,” said HowardHandler, chief marketing officer for Virgin Mobile USA. “And coming in at areally affordable price point, it’s another good example of the breadth ofVirgin Mobile’s handset line.”

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