So all of Virgin's many, many brands tend to have a somewhat quirky sense of humor, and typically, that seems to sit just fine with the company's young (and youthful) target demo. It's par for the course then with Strip2Clothe, a campaign it recently launched to get folks to do their best Elizabeth-Berkley-in-Showgirls impression on camera. The idea was simple, if not a little bizarre: post up your best striptease, and for every five views, Virgin would donate one article of clothing to a network of organizations dedicated to helping homeless youth around the country. Problem is, those organizations were never consulted before Virgin launched the campaign, and some of them weren't terribly pleased with the concept, calling it "exploitative" and "distasteful" among other things. Despite the outcry, Strip2Clothe is still online, with a Virgin rep saying "this issue is really important to us, we've had over 12,000 hits for the site so far, and we want to continue to raise awareness for this important issue." And yes, we know you're going to Google it the second you're done reading this, so don't even try to hide it.

[Via mocoNews]

Virgin Mobile has released the Arc, another in a long, long line of prepaid models designed to keep the upfront payment to a minimum at the cost of a killer feature list. Still, though, the UTStarcom-sourced flip makes out with Bluetooth, dual color displays, and a VGA camera for its $49.99 asking price, and the red / black color combo doesn't look half bad. We'll have a closer look at the Arc in the next few days, but if you simply must have one now, they're on sale immediately.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Money-losing companies with interesting technology and a small, if rabid, customer base still frequently tend to sell for healthy chunks of change -- especially in the wireless space. Look at Trolltech, for example, the mobile Linux company that never really made any money, yet somehow managed to be acquired by Nokia for its talent and IP, which apparently carried a value of over $150m. We know Helio was burning cash on a whole 'nother level, but that doesn't entirely explain why SK Telecom was so absurdly desperate to dump their $500m investment. At a $39m acquisition price, SK didn't just lose its shirt -- it lost that, the shoes, and then the pants. You know, the pants with a half-billion dollars in them.

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It's official, MVNO lone survivor Virgin Mobile is picking up the struggling Helio from SK Telecom and Earthlink for a cool $39 million in Virgin Mobile USA stock. They expect the deal to close in Q3 2008, pending regulatory approval. The acquisition comes as no surprise, but it's still sad to see the one true innovator in a mostly doomed MVNO space fall to that pesky little "completely failing to make money" thing. The good news is that it while the Helio brand will be phased out, Virgin Mobile isn't just in this for the 170,000-ish subscribers it'll be picking up. They plan to leverage Helio's technology and content offerings, not to mention the willingness of its customers to pay a few extra bucks for the perks, to build the Virgin Mobile brand into new spaces -- spaces which hopefully prove profitable and Ocean 2-ey.

Do you hear that, Helio? That [cue Sir Richard Branson's soothing voice] is the sound of inevitability. Rumors have been swirling for a few weeks now that SK Telecom -- Helio's majority owner -- is getting ready to cut, run, and offload its share to Virgin Mobile, rolling the scrappy MVNO into the one and only virtual network in the US that's been met with substantial, quantifiable success (more recent stock woes notwithstanding). Now, the Financial Times is reporting that a deal is cued up and ready for a public introduction as early as this week. The sooner, the better, because tons of questions remain about the fate of subscribers and the introduction of the pretty hotly anticipated Ocean 2, a device that at one time could've been Helio's savior; too late for that now, we guess.

Virgin Mobile has always positioned itself as a super-crazy-value carrier in the US, and that trend certainly continues with its latest plan option, "Totally Unlimited". The idea's about as simple as the name implies -- the MVNO hooks you up with unlimited calling at any time of day or night for a shade under $80 a month, which already positions it favorably against all the nationals and major regionals -- but the coup de grace has to be the contract-free nature of the whole thing. When you sign up, Virgin doesn't want your soul for two years, and it doesn't even want your credit card if you'd prefer to pay your dues with a crumpled-up wad of cash every month (where you got that money is none of our business, after all). Unlimited text and pixture messaging can be added for another $10 monthly, which ends up pitting Virgin squarely against the $89.99 plan offered by one of its corporate parents, Sprint (which doesn't actually own much of Virgin Mobile anymore, so we guess there's probably not too much love lost there). Look for Totally Unlimited to hit the streets on July 1.

If, for whatever reason, a Tony Hawk-branded Sidekick LX just isn't your bag, how's about this limited edition alternative? Aside from actually being more than a figment of someone's imagination, Kyocera's $99.99 Virgin Mobile Festival Special Edition Wild Card is definitely in the running for longest mobile name of all time. You'll also find a few musical touches added in, like the 50 free eMusic song downloads (enthralling, we know), graffiti-style Festival graphics, exclusive wallpapers and a one-year subscription to SPIN magazine. Interested consumers can look exclusively at Best Buy for this one until July 31st (unless the 15,000 are snapped up earlier), and make sure you bring it to the Baltimore Festival for gratis access to the Virgin Mobile Guest Lounge -- sure to be stacked wall-to-wall with nerds just like you. One more shot after the jump.

Looks like Virgin Mobile USA and Helio parent SK Telecom didn't bother to get their stories straight before turning to the press over recent rumors that they've been talking marriage. Right on the heels of an SKT statement that talks of a Virgin Mobile takeover were "groundless," Virgin Mobile has come out with a super-brief statement saying something quite to the contrary -- that the two are, in fact, in "preliminary discussions" over "possible strategic opportunities." That's about as vague and unhelpful as it gets -- a level of vagueness that's really only saved for situations where something big is about to go down, actually. The MVNO goes on to say that it's gonna stay mum on the subject at this point unless "a definitive agreement is reached," but at least we know they're chatting.

[Via mocoNews]

Virgin Mobile's warnings of a bleak quarter were pretty dead-on, with a mere 17,772 net adds coming on board during the three-month time frame ending March 31 -- not quite the blockbuster 309,721 reported in the same period a year ago. Similarly, revenue and income both took a dive, supposedly in part due to a big marketing push focused on the MVNO's new pricing plans. If there's a silver lining on the dark, rumbling cloud, though, it's that the CEO believes they'll start to see some positive growth again in the third quarter after a weak second (for his sake, we hope he's right). Also notable was a mention that although the company had no strategic partnerships, alliances, or investments to announce, it was definitely open to "non-organic growth" in the form of another MVNO or "capability." Wonder what he may have been talking about there?

[Via mocoNews]

Look out, Virgin Mobile subscribers -- Samsung's sliding you one more handset option with its forthcoming Slash. Posted now on the carrier's own website, said mobile packs integrated Bluetooth, a color display, voice dialing, web access and a talk time of 3.5-hours. Additionally, it tips the scales at just 3-ounces and measures 3.8- x 1.8- x 0.7-inches. Unfortunately, we're still waiting on the real details (you know, resolution, price, release date, whether it works in subarctic temperatures, etc.), but feel free to keep a close eye on the read link as its inevitable launch date draws near.

In case you hadn't noticed, Virgin Mobile rocks an ever-so-slightly higher end lineup north of the border than it does in the US, and to that end, it's just released the RAZR 2 V9m. We all know the drill here by now: 2 inch external QVGA display with music controls, 2.2 inch internal QVGA display, stereo Bluetooth, EV-DO, microSD expansion, and a 2 megapixel camera, all of which are ready to sit just above the KRZR in Virgin's stable. Grab it now for $149 CAD (about $147) on a three-year deal.

[Via Mobile In Canada]

MVNO Virgin Mobile is taking a rather unusual approach to advertising its new plan features and pricing structures unveiled today, pointing out that they provide "smarter choices in a tough economy." For monthly plans, those "smarter choices" include unlimited nights and weekends starting at 7pm (well, we suppose weekends start at 12am, but you get what we mean) and unlimited messaging for a reasonable $10 monthly. Prepaid plans, meanwhile, are now offering the capability to "roll forward" up to 5,000 unused minutes when the account is re-upped within 30 days. Minute packs are now available in $20, $30, and $50 increments equaling 200, 400, and 1,000 minutes, respectively, knocking the per-minute price down to 5 cents at the highest level. The new goodies are all available immediately.

[Via Phone Scoop and MobileTechNews]

Virgin Mobile's slowly (and we do mean slowly) moving into the 21st century with its ultra-cheap prepaid offerings; in the past they've frequently foregone features most of us consider standard like Bluetooth and external displays in an effort to keep the sticker shock to a minimum, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology, Virgin's getting close to being able to offer a circa-2008 feature set in 2008. Here we have the Flare courtesy of LG, a glossy lil' flip that serves up a color screen out front, Bluetooth, speakerphone, and mobile web access for a penny shy of $30 -- contract-free. The FCC filing (it's the LX175) reveals a lack of EV-DO, but seriously, what do you expect for the price?

[Thanks, Eric C.]

[Via Textually]