Virgin Radio Launches on Mobile Phones

Virgin Radio have launched a great new service for GPRS and 3G phones. You download a simple Java (J2ME) app and you can listen to Virgin Radio.

There's a strong argument to suggest that radio is actually the natural partner of mobile, as opposed to the oft-hyped Mobile TV. After all, when you're mobile you can often listen, but not necessarily watch.

Assuming radio catches on for the mobile, we may also see a whole rebirth of the medium, as broadcasters introduce new features to take advantage of that new mobility. Perhaps we'll also see the introduction of dedicated mobile radio channels designed to maximise the mobile listening experience.

Virgin are providing the service free - after all, their revenue model is advertising funded free content. However, depending on the data the tariffs charged by the operator, it could be prohibitively expensive.

The service uses 7.2 MB an hour, which if the user is on a fixed rate data package is fine.

But at least two UK operators (one PAYT and one contract) are charging around 75p per kb (c $1.40). This means listening to Virgin would cost you an incredible $10,000 an hour.

Virgin are in talks with UK operators to introduce more fixed rate data packages, but until then, the service is irrelevant for many users.

 

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