Helio's flame going out: stores to shutter, customers heading to Virgin?
by Ryan Block 
posted Jun 20th 2008 at 12:31PM
Alongside Helio -- more or less the last man standing -- the great MVNO goldrush also dies. Unfortunate that besides Virgin and a few local and M2M providers (like Amazon's Whispernet), pretty much no one was able to make it work. Then again, no one ever never said making cellphones and running any kind of carrier was easy.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Dan @ Jun 20th 2008 1:00PM
that sucks. Although I never used Helio (I prefer to have moddable motorola phones) I thought Helio had a great and unique vision for their services. I always assumed it had enough mass market appeal to make it. I guess America just isn't ready yet
Roger Alford @ Jun 20th 2008 1:07PM
I knew this was happening, and was moving out of an area that Helio has a data roaming agreement with, since Helio is mainly DATA CENTRIC they couldnt really offer me to stay if the phone doesnt work in roaming areas.
Unfortunately, the area I am moving to, has data on Verizon and USCellular (surprise, NEITHER have data with Helio), but Sprint offers roaming with BOTH for data, so I moved to Sprint and got the Instinct.
Sorry Helio, you failed us all, we love you but it was too soon for a good carrier to come into play.
As for Virgin - GOOD GOD! They were cool at launch, but now they nickel and dime people just to "BROWSE" downloads.
jane @ Jun 20th 2008 1:11PM
is this true or just rumor?
what happens to their customers and phone numbers ?
any one know?
Ken @ Jun 20th 2008 1:21PM
I just called Helio, they said it's not true, it's only a rumor. The lady told me on the phone that they actually are hiring more people at the customer service center and signing up more customers. So, I guess that answered your question, cheers!
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PEZ @ Jun 20th 2008 2:26PM
"WHY" would the lady tell you? WHY? They want you to stay as long as possible. Helio is going down for the count. END.OF.STORY.
Jamar @ Jun 21st 2008 2:21AM
Er... hiring more people certainly isn't the way any business closes down... And Helio has plenty behind it- if Earthlink bails there's still SK Telecom. Go have a look at what they do in Korea.
PEZ @ Jun 20th 2008 2:29PM
AHAHAHAHAHA Helio You Suck!
danny @ Jun 20th 2008 1:49PM
I just called Helio, they said it's not true, it's only a rumor. The lady told me on the phone that they actually are hiring more people at the customer service center and signing up more customers. So, I guess that answered your question, cheers!
any company thats going down wont really tell you the truth, only becuz if u do find out the truth, they know that you would leave them and u can get off your contract with out paying for the termanation fees. is haapined with ampmobile. and i work for them so i know what the deal is. helio that is. dont get me wrong tho i love helio, but its to bad we will never get the ocean 2 that phone is super sweet and the camera on it is fucking unbelivable . and with its new touch key feature it was sure to be a nice thing to have on it.
Aaron @ Jun 20th 2008 11:41PM
How old are you?
anonymous @ Jun 20th 2008 3:11PM
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
ZeroGravity107 @ Jun 20th 2008 3:30PM
When is this going to happen. I want to drop my contract but I'll wait it out. WHEN?
Will @ Jun 20th 2008 3:37PM
Fine..I won't call them a phone company. I'll call them out of business.
Ken @ Jun 20th 2008 3:44PM
Ok, I just called the store where I signed up my contract. The guy told me also they didn't hear anything about it, but he says if anything happens, Helio will give us a heads up, and let us to port the number to somewhere else and get out of the 2 year contract. If Helio goes down, I will sign up Sprint's Everything plan, a better deal than Helio, maybe pick up the Samsung Instinct. I just hope I won't loose my number.
Stephanie @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:57PM
I too have Helio and yes they are going under which is unfortunate because I do love my Ocean. I will be porting my number to Sprint when we are notified that we can port and not be charged an ETF. Oh, and the only way you would probably lose your number is if you close your account before actually porting to the other carrier. Just leave it open. Once the number has been ported then the account will be closed b Helio...you won't have to do a thing except pay your final bill with Helio.
Justin @ Jun 20th 2008 4:13PM
it's not the helio store closing at santa monica fools! it's the apple store 2 doors down. honest mistake tho.
Ken @ Jun 20th 2008 5:04PM
Hell, if I loose my number, I probably wouldn't care, because the Church of Scientology got it too..........so one stone 2 birds. Get rid off the crazies from the church, and get myself a better plan at Sprint.
Asif Ahmed @ Jun 21st 2008 7:52AM
Helio is actually going very strong and June was one of the best performing months so far.
Helio will be launching the Helio Ocean 2 the most anticipated device of the year.
http://www.ocean2promo.com
The move to eliminate the direct distribution channel is to comply more in regards to how Virgin Mobile operates. As you can see Virgin Mobile has zero direct distribution and all indirect.
If you check Virgin's business plan you will see that the business model is based on spreading the distribution costs to the indirect channel. This allows the MVNO to ride out economic downturns as the indirect channel absorbs most of the cost while allowing the MVNO to carry on being a margin player.
This is very different then the Helio model and works on a cost plus basis where Virgin makes money on the difference between the wholesale rates and what is charged by the customer. This will be a great addition to Helio's model where they make money on exclusive value added services.
Here is where the merger makes a lot of sense:
1. Savings in operations by merging overlapping areas such as IT. This can reduce Helio's current operating costs by as much as 40%.
2. By pooling the minutes, Helio saves on Virgin Mobile's current lower wholesale rates. This could result in savings for cost of goods sold by nearly 15%.
3. By rolling out Helio's exclusive services to the Virgin community it increases margins for the business without any additional investments. Imagine 5 million people now being able to use exclusive services such as Answer Rings, Google Maps, Buddy Beacon, Tell Me, Opera Mini Browser and other innovative services only found in Helio.
Lets say Virgin Mobile customers are willing to pay just $5 a month for the exclusive service package which on data services the margin is around 90%. This would increase the earnings of Virgin Mobile by 75M per quarter or roughly equal to 15 times it's current quarterly earning.
4. Ability to take advantage of Virgin Mobiles current distribution channels allowing it to reduce its own direct distribution footprint. Which it is currently doing right now by shutting down their current distribution and streamlining operations.
5. Equipment cost savings by taking advantage of SK Telecom's relationships. This includes a one Billion dollars in research and development budget from SK Telecom.
SK Telecom is the most advanced telecommunications company in the world, if someone doubts that just go to South Korea and compare. I would like to bet that they know exactly what they are doing, rather than some disgruntle Helio Employee, we should listen to the facts and let it guide our understanding of Helio.
1. Helio has met it's customer add target of 200K after two years.
2. Helio is growing rapidly through organic growth.
3. Helio Ocean 2 which has been in the lab for nearly a year now is ready for release.
4. Helio Upgrade Program has launched.
5. Helio Indirect channel distribution now has nationwide presence.
6. Helio's cost is below initial SK Telecom estimates.
7. It takes 12 months for Helio to break even on a customer after the marketing expenditures and equipment subsidy and they are now approaching that point with a large part of their customer base.
8. Most capital costs have now been amortized, allowing Helio the path to profitability.
It has been two years now that everyone has written out Helio and Helio is still here and thriving.
Asif Ahmed
Helio Wireless | Tysons Corner
http://www.heliobusiness.com
adsti3 @ Jun 20th 2008 11:53PM
You mean someone wasted the cool logo above for NOTHING?
Jamar @ Jun 21st 2008 2:27AM
Good. Maybe now they can actually focus on rolling out some nice phones. Helio started nicely enough- a SKY and a VK Mobile phone, both of which were unavailable anywhere else but Korea. Then they started pushing out Samsungs. Now the lineup looks like stuff I can find anywhere else (Yes, there's the Ocean- that's about it for the uniqueness). Hello? How about some more exclusives?
Keyan @ Jun 21st 2008 10:36AM
You're and idiot if you think all of these services, "Answer Rings, Google Maps, Buddy Beacon, Tell Me, Opera Mini Browser," are exclusive to helio. Hell, I have tmobile and can do answer rings, google maps, and opera mini. So before you go blasting helio as the best thing ever, check your facts.
Oh btw, answer rings are the only thing out of the stuff I typed that aren't free.
wirelessjunkie @ Jun 21st 2008 2:00PM
Now Keyan, calm yourself down. You're anger is getting best of you. Just look at your typos. I believe if you read his comments correctly in context, he meant exclusive in terms that Virgin Mobile does not have those features offered to their customers. He didn't mean that Helio has an exclusive encompassing the entire wireless world. Don't be a Helio hater Keyan. Just hate yourself!
dude @ Jun 22nd 2008 11:09AM
dang it i thought this wuz all gunna work out
u have got to admit that virgin mobile Fones SUCKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!
i mean seriously they are just to simple boring and not cool at all
plus...its called VIRGIN...lol
the thing is ... I REALLY like the plans for virgin cuz i end up only paying 15 dollas a month for 1000 messages plus 5mb of internet...i barely ever talk so i just use my Sugar Mama minutes and its perfect...i mean u just get to watch advertisements and u get free airtime
wut i wanted though was a Helio phone with a VM plan cuz VM phones suck but have great plans and Helio phones are sweett!
and now that the ocean has been dropping price to like 100 dollars i wuldve got it but according to this article it says that pretty much virgin is just gunna be retarded like they always are with their gay little phones and reject helio phones plus plans and screw evrything up
pisses me off
thot it wuz gunna work
jfizz313 @ Jun 23rd 2008 7:24PM
yea ampd mobile told me the same thing when i called them and i was about to buy another phone a month be for thy closed the doors
Rainseyes @ Jun 23rd 2008 12:26AM
OMG i hope they aren't going out of business because i just signed up for service TODAY, i mean wouldn't they stop taking new customers at a certain point. and why would they be putting money into developing a new product (Ocean 2) if they are going under. I was even browsing all day to try and find negative reviews online for the drift (which was discontinued so offered as free) and i couldn't find ANY dirt on it, and the ocean only had a few complaints about the slider jamming but that could be due to abuse. On any given search for other providers issues i see complaints about the phones AND the service with no end. I went through 15 google search pages looking for negativity and couldn't find a lick. Seems to me that if a company like verizon (internet) can stay afloat with all that dumb choices and news papers complaining even, then i don't see where helio should have a problem, and the person i spoke to in sales was young and barley knew anything about the phones, telling me that she was fairly new, and i have been doing helpdesk and tech support for a long while now and i know fresh meat when i smell it, and a company going under doesnt hire a lot of new people or even outsource sales and tech support. Lets hope my intuition is right (i give it on average about an 80% accuracy rating being modest). if anyone has any substantial evidence that this company is going under please post soon, i only have 30 days to cancel or i have to pay that awful early term fee
Doony @ Jul 26th 2008 12:31AM
i can see why helio is closing..the have bad customer service.. dont get me wrong i love the phone service, plans, and what they offer but they are probably hiring more customer service reps because the ones they have suck..i actually talked to a helio rep today and they said they closed all their stores and kiosks because of the merge and they are "trying a new marketing approach" all in all helio was agreat concept but they lacked the business mindset and leadership experince to compete with the current mobile/cellular market. this genre of cellular service will resurface but probably on a established network that is willing to move in and take over this lucrative market that is waiting to be tapped by anyone willing to take the chance.