Verizon and Ampd Mobile today announced their new MVNO joint-venture to be launched in the third quarter. Focusing on EV-DO and data services, the new company claims to be ready to deliver prepaid and standard cell phone service as well as a “music store with PC synchronization”.
In all honesty though, the truth behind this story is a bit different. The CEO is a self proclaimed “youth marketing expert”, and from the full launch lineup we’ve seen (that just happens to offer phones in Verizon’s lineup completely), they will not be offering any services above, beyond or different from Verizon, the only potential exception is in prepaid EV-DO access. Unlike the Earthlink SK-Telecom MVNO, Ampd is not making any commitments to offer handsets at a level above the carrier, dual networking agreements, or other savvy user features. When they advertise their CEO as a “youth marketing expert”, that from our intelligence points to the extent of their offerings.
Ampd Mobile (Warning, extremely loud, unnecessary Flash content to follow)