Virgin Wireless, perhaps best known for Sir Richard Branson and all of his antics, is an affordable cellular option here in the US. Virgin customers can enjoy — if that’s the right word for it — Sprint’s cellular service, at a discounted rate, however, there are usually some compromises for that. Now, there will be yet another compromise for Virgin customers who don’t like iPhones — Virgin will now only carry Apple’s phone on their network.
Bummer, Android-fans.
According to BGR, Virgin Mobile will exclusively support iPhones starting June 27. It’s an … interesting business decision to say the least. iPhones are undoubtedly super popular, but so are Samsung, Google, Android as a whole. Virgin had this to say about the move:
There’s iPhone. And then there’s everything else … At Virgin Mobile, we’re teaming with Apple to offer you nothing but the world’s most popular phone. Because life in the Inner Circle is about living big, expanding your horizons and pursuing your passions. And it starts with an iPhone you’ll adore.
… Unless you don’t adore iPhones. Maybe Virgin hopes it can force you to. You have to overlook Virgin’s less-than-stellar coverage first. Virgin leases Sprint’s network and uses that for customers. Seeing as Sprint has the weakest coverage of the major four carriers in the US, Virgin customers are not getting stellar reception.
Gadget Hack’s Dallas Thomas explains why Virgin customers may expect slower service than even Sprint customers:
These MVNOs (Virgin, Cricket, Metro PCS, etc.) mostly started out as independent companies reselling bulk access to major carrier networks. But in the last few years they all slowly got bought out by the carriers they were leasing from to serve the budget segment without tarnishing the big name, with slowdowns during peak traffic hours
Things get a little more intriguing when you consider the rumors that T-Mobile and Sprint are itching for a merger, and with that, T-Mobile is delaying annual employee raises. Perhaps Virgin, who is owned by Sprint, wants to corner the iPhone market, and let T-Mobile push the other phone brands. Of course, this is all speculation, but we need something to make sense of this stupendously strange news.
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