Phew: Keep Your Advanced Features When Your Helio Turns Into Virgin

In today’s news of Virgin buying Helio for 39 million US dollars, it has been revealed that the advanced features Helio was known for (and paid dearly for in the end) will be ported over as Virgin takes over operations. The infrastructure will also allow future handsets from Virgin to include modern day amenities like Google Maps with GPS, YouTube and MySpace apps, stuff Helio was very early on compared to the rest of the industry. [Virgin]

Greatly Expanded Handset and Data Offerings

Helio has built its reputation by providing its approximately 170,000 customers with highly sophisticated data services, and Virgin Mobile USA will leverage these advanced applications along with Helio’s established postpaid platform, social networking content and feature-rich handsets to provide its customers with the latest in wireless products and services. This acquisition will allow Virgin Mobile USA to provide current and future customers with unique user applications on Sprint’s high-speed EV-DO network, including Google maps with GPS, as well as integrated You Tube and MySpace applications.