Virgin Mobile And Kyocera Unveil K9 Phone

By Ian Bell Updated August 23, 2004

The K9 incorporates many features such as Superphonic (or real-music) ringtones, Comedy Central content, the Rescue Ring, and exclusive content from *MTV — not to mention a built-in flashlight.

“We’re very excited about the K9. This good-looking handset really takes home ‘Best in Show’ award for those who are in the market for an affordable wireless phone,” said Howard Handler, chief marketing officer for Virgin Mobile USA. “Our customers can access Virgin Mobile’s fun features and killer content at an attractive price.”

The K9 is based on Kyocera’s K400 series of phones, its best-selling line of wireless handsets. Featuring real-music ringtones, users can download and assign ringtones directly from Virgin Mobile handsets or online at www.virginmobileusa.com and MTV.com that are rich and deep, sounding more like the actual music than today’s polyphonic ringers. Additionally, the K9 includes features such as voice-activated dialing, calendars, alarm clock and a built-in contact directory as well as gaming capabilities and predictive text-input for rapid text entry.

“Virgin Mobile’s strong appeal with its Pay As You Go services and Kyocera’s delivery of cool, relevant and affordable phones continues to hit a sweet spot for the youth market,” said Don McGuire, vice president of Global Marketing and North American Sales at Kyocera Wireless Corp. “We’ve partnered with Virgin Mobile since its service launch and are committed to continue supporting its growth as it expands product and service offerings to its customers. The new K9, with additional features like downloadable real-music ringtones, will stand out as a welcome addition to Virgin Mobile’s powerful line-up.”

The K9 will be sold through Virgin Mobile retailer partners including Amazon.com, Best Buy, CompUSA, Media Play, Rite-Aid, Safeway, Sam Goody, Sprint stores, Target Stores, Wal*Mart, Virgin Megastores and select college bookstores. It will also be available online at www.virginmobileusa.com and www.shop.mtv.com.

In addition to the Kyocera K9, Virgin Mobile also sells the Kyocera K7 Rave and Kyocera Slider V5 *MTV Edition handsets. Virgin Mobile was the first carrier to offer the Slider in North America.

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