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Black Friday Alert: BlackBerry Storm2 only 99 cents at Wirefly

Ari Driessen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:33:43 +0000

Severe Storm Warning: BlackBerry Storm 2 to be $.99, Bold 2 FREE at Wirefly

As Black Friday and Cyber Monday rapidly approaches, Wirefly is cautioning consumers to seek shelter from Category 5 lines and stratospheric cell phone prices. On Black Friday, the BlackBerry Storm2 for Verizon Wireless will be just $.99 and the BlackBerry Bold 9700 will be FREE for new AT&T customers and just $29.99 for upgrading AT&T subscribers. Both deals will blow in with $0 activation.

BlackBerry Storm2 (Verizon Wireless):

$.99 ($9.99 Saturday through Monday) for new Verizon customers and $29.99 for upgrading subscribers on Black Friday (24 hour sale) Plus Free Activation

BlackBerry Bold 9700 (AT&T):

FREE for new AT&T customers and $29.99 for upgrading subscribers 11/27-11/30 Plus Free Activation

Samsung Moment (Sprint):

$79.99 for new Sprint customers and $99.99 for upgrading subscribers on Black Friday

Got AT&T? Add a line, get a free LG phone, go forth & prosper.

Ari Driessen — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:27:13 +0000

If you’ve been been debating adding another line to your AT&T account, Wirefly is making your decision a tad bit easier. For a limited time, get a free LG Neon, Vu or Incite when you add a new line to your existing AT&T account. The holidays aren’t here just yet, but as they say, “The early bird gets the worm.”

Click here to take advantage of this special offer.

Wirefly Launches New Electronics Trade-In Program

mmurray — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:20:26 +0000

RESTON, VA – November 10, 2009 – Wirefly (www.wirefly.com), the internet’s leading authorized retailer of cell phones and home services, today announces the launch of its new and improved online trade-in program that allows consumers to trade in their unwanted electronics for cash or a charitable donation to one of over a dozen charities and nonprofit organizations that Wirefly supports, including the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, American Red Cross, and EarthEcho International.

The new trade-in program, developed in collaboration with Consumer Electronics Exchange, (CExchange, LLC), expands upon Wirefly’s existing cell phone recycling initiative to now include a multitude of electronic product categories such as cameras, computers, monitors, MP3 players, video games and consoles, and GPS devices. Consumers can now confidently trade-in old and unwanted electronics, not just cell phones, for cash or a charitable donation, with the knowledge that these products will be refurbished or properly and safely recycled.

“As a leading consumer electronics retailer, our responsibility to our millions of customers does not end once they complete their purchase with us,” said Andy Zeinfeld, chief executive officer of Simplexity, parent company of Wirefly.com. “We have an obligation to do our part to minimize e-waste. Through our partnership with CExchange, we now offer our customers a convenient solution to dispose of all of their unwanted electronics, not just cell phones, in an environmentally responsible and economical way.”

“We make it our business to get retailers the tools and resources they need to offer effective recycling and trade-in solutions,” said Scott Nordhaus, chief executive officer of CExchange. “The opportunity to work with an industry leader like Wirefly will certainly make an impact on the campaign to reduce e-waste by rewarding customers for their efforts to recycle.”

By trading in their unwanted electronics through Wirefly.com, consumers not only contribute to an environmentally sustainable future, but they have an opportunity to earn cash back for their trade-in or donate the proceeds to a charity of their choice. Unlike other large electronics companies with trade-in or recycling programs, there are no hidden processing fees or shipping costs. Simply by visiting www.wirefly.com and clicking on the “Trade-In/Recycle for Cash” link, consumers can quickly determine the value of their electronics, select the ‘cash back’ option or choose a charity, print the free shipping label, and mail in their device. If the product is received in the reported condition, the customer or the designated charity will receive a check for the entire dollar amount as indicated on the website.

“At EarthEcho International, we are passionate about our water planet and committed to protecting it for future generations, so we are extremely excited to align ourselves with Wirefly and their new environmentally-responsible electronic recycling program,” said Philippe Cousteau, co-founder and CEO of EarthEcho International, a non-profit organization devoted to water conservation and restoration. “This initiative will not only help to reduce the amount of hazardous wastes that pollute the air, and contaminate our soil and water sources when electronic materials are carelessly tossed into landfills, but with the help of the charitable donations that EarthEcho International receives from the Wirefly program, we will be able to continue to fund our quest towards global environmental sustainability.”

For more information about the Wirefly trade-in program or to begin recycling your electronics, please visit www.wirefly.com.

*Wirefly does not handle the collection and recycling of the used electronics and does not buy back used products for the purpose of resale in any way.

About Wirefly:

Wirefly.com is America’s trusted source for cell phones, wireless service plans and wireless accessories. Owned and operated by Simplexity, Wirefly.com is the Internet’s #1 authorized dealer for every major cellular carrier in the U.S. Wirefly.com also offers discounts and services not available in retail wireless stores, including real-time online order status and tracking, and the guaranteed lowest price – online or anywhere else — on cell phone devices from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry and many other cell phone handset manufacturers. Wirefly.com has been named Best of the Web by Forbes magazine as the “best all-around number portability portal” and “Best in Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Performance Systems. For more information on Wirefly.com, its wireless products and its services, visit www.wirefly.com.

Wirefly Releases Its Top 10 Most-Anticipated Cell Phone Launches

mmurray — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:53:23 +0000

RESTON, VA — October 27, 2009 — The battle for wireless supremacy has never been more heated and carriers are preparing to duke it out for that coveted top spot by unleashing an arsenal of impressive devices for the holiday season. Blogs are buzzing. Gadget geeks are salivating. And eager consumers are waiting with bated breath to get their hands on these hot new cell phones.

Wirefly (www.wirefly.com), the internet’s leading authorized retailer of cell phone and wireless services, today releases its picks for the Top 10 Most-Anticipated Cell Phone Launches. Not surprisingly, the Android phone category, which continues to grow at a rampant pace, garners five of the ten spots. Carriers are also trying to capitalize on the success of older models by rolling out next generation handsets that they hope to be just as popular.

“The carriers and manufacturers have really stepped up their attack on the iPhone,” said Andy Zeinfeld, chief executive officer of Simplexity, parent company of Wirefly.com. “Some of the devices in this list have the potential of knocking it off of its smartphone pedestal if their claims of improving upon iPhone’s weaknesses are true.”

Wirefly’s Top 10 Most-Anticipated Cell Phones*

Motorola Droid (Verizon Wireless) – The most anticipated cell phone launch of the season is just days away, but the hype for this the Motorola Droid smartphone has been building for quite some time. Verizon Wireless has invested heavily in a national “teaser” marketing campaign, while keeping the details about this Android-based device close to the vest. The Droid is the first commercial phone released with the new Android 2.0 platform, and has been dubbed the “iPhone killer” by many a technology-writer. Verizon Wireless is stoking the fire with a campaign that touts all the things the Droid does that the iPhone doesn’t – from running multiple apps, to a full slide-out keyboard, to changeable batteries and memory to a 5.0 megapixel camera that takes photos in the dark.
Motorola CLIQ MB200 (T-Mobile) – The highly-anticipated Motorola CLIQ is the new king of the T-Mobile Android smartphone lineup, and the first since the original G-1 to have a full slide-out keyboard. What really makes it buzz-worthy, though, is that it utilizes the new MotoBlur user interface that syncs your social media, contacts, and e-mail in real time, providing instant access to the latest happenings and messages from friends. (The Cliq is currently available to existing T-Mobile customers, however, new customers will not be able to purchase the device until November 2nd, and therefore, it still garners a spot on our top picks.)
Samsung Moment (Sprint) – Sprint’s second Android device, the Samsung Moment, mark’s Samsung’s entry into the Android smartphone market with a full slide-out keyboard and a first-of-its-kind AMOLED touch screen, providing unprecedented brightness that’s also kind to your battery life.
LG Chocolate Touch (Verizon Wireless) – The LG Chocolate is an iconic Verizon Wireless phone, and this new touch version should be even sweeter than its predecessors.
Samsung Behold II (T-Mobile) – The Behold II is the sequel to the very successful Samsung Behold but with one MAJOR difference – the latest version runs on the Android smartphone operating system. The Behold II also features a “cube menu” that provides quick access to six multimedia features at the flick of a finger: music, photos, videos, the Web, YouTube, and Amazon MP3.
HTC Desire 6200 (Verizon Wireless) – Verizon Wireless is making headlines with the Droid, but is expected to follow quickly with a second Android-powered smartphone dubbed the Desire. The Desire will not have a keyboard, and will boast HTC’s touch screen “Sense” interface that has won rave reviews on the HTC Hero.
Sprint Palm Pixi (Sprint) – The Sprint Palm Pixi is being touted as a tiny, sleek webOS-based handset that offers many of the same features and functionality as the Pre without the hefty price tag.
BlackBerry Storm 2 (Verizon Wireless) – This next generation of the touch screen BlackBerry Storm looks similar to the original model on the outside, but boasts notable improvements on the inside such as a Wi-Fi radio, sleeker design, and an improved SurePress typing system.
BlackBerry Bold 9700 (AT&T & T-Mobile) –This smartphone is an updated version of the high-end Blackberry Bold that hit the market last year. It is thinner and lighter with a faster Web browser than its predecessor and replaces the original Bold’s track ball with an optical track pad.
LG Shine 2 (AT&T) – The successor to the immensely popular Shine; but as its name indicates, it promises to be twice as sleek and sexy.

Zeinfeld continued, “Although not all of these devices have confirmed launch dates, we look forward to offering them to our customers on Wirefly.com, where they will be able to easily compare devices and rate plans across all wireless carriers to find the best fit for their needs.”

*Until the devices listed in the Wirefly Top 10 officially launch, all information provided is speculative. The descriptions, including applications and features, are subject to change and pricing has not been confirmed at this time.

About Wirefly:

Verizon Waived Activation Fever Strikes Wirefly, Save Big

Ari Driessen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:27:55 +0000

Wirefly’s long-awaited Verizon Wireless waived activation sale is here again. Until midnight Monday, October 12th, Wirefly will cover your activation fee. If you’ve been holding off on upgrading your family’s arsenal of phones, now is the time. Save up to $135 on a family plan upgrade, and pay no activation fee on any new Verizon line or device upgrade.

Click HERE to skip out on your activation fee.

Every AT&T Phone is Free Until Midnight at Wirefly

Ari Driessen — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:37:31 +0000

Until midnight EST today, every AT&T phone is free for new AT&T customers and many hot phones are also free for existing AT&T customers upgrading their device. Get connected with a BlackBerry Bold, get the best of both worlds with the touchscreen LG Xenon with full slide-out qwerty keyboard, or jam out with the Sony Ericsson W518a music phone. There’s plenty of choices, and all phones ship free.

Check out Wirefly now to pick up your new AT&T phone.

Wirefly Launches Video Challenge to Celebrate Its Anniversary

mmurray — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:59:36 +0000

RESTON, VA., October 1, 2009 — Calling all budding filmmakers, established cinematographers or anyone with a video camera and a desire to win some cold, hard cash!

To celebrate another year as the internet’s leading authorized retailer of cell phones, Wirefly (www.wirefly.com) today announces the Wirefly Video Challenge (www.wireflycontest.com/wirefly-commercial/).

The contest, co-sponsored by wireless manufacturer LG, invites anyone and everyone to write, film and star in a short video that communicates to the world what makes Wirefly America’s trusted source for cell phones. To enter, participants simply upload their videos to YouTube, Viddler or any popular video-sharing site and submit the link and their contact information on the Wirefly Contest Page.

Prizes including cash and cell phones will be awarded to the top three contestants, and their videos will be featured on Wirefly’s website and its YouTube channel. The winning commercial will receive $1,000 and a brand new cell phone courtesy of LG.

“This is an opportunity for anyone with a video camera and an imagination to become a Wirefly Advertising Executive for the day,” said Scott Ableman, chief marketing officer of Simplexity, parent company of Wirefly.com. “Our millions of customers are the best advertising we have. Who better to describe the service, savings, and convenience of ordering a cell phone through Wirefly?”

Short of ideas? Write a jingle or rap about your experience shopping on Wirefly. Compare Wirefly to shopping at a store. Showcase our huge selection of phone deals in a unique way! Explain how easy it is to compare cell phones and rate plans across multiple wireless carriers! Re-enact the moment you realized how much money you saved!

“You don’t have to be a professional filmmaker to enter,” added Ableman. “Anything goes, so don’t hold back.”

Contestants can submit their original Wirefly commercial for consideration from October 1, 2009 until October 31, 2009.

A Wirefly judging panel will review all contest submissions and select the three winners based on: concept, creativity and entertainment value. The winning video will be announced on November 13, 2009 and posted on the Wirefly sites for all to enjoy.

Additional information, and full rules and regulations are available on www.WireflyContest.com.

Be sure to check out the great deals available during Wirefly’s Anniversary Sale.

About Wirefly:

Time’s A Wastin’ on Verizon Waived Activation, Save Up to $135

Ari Driessen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:33:40 +0000

The Verizon Wireless Waived Activation campaign is in its waning hours. Ending midnight Thursday, you can save up to $35 per line on new accounts or upgrades. That’s a savings of up to $135 on a family plan ($35 on the first line, $25 on up to four lines thereafter).

Check out Verizon’s Waived Activation promotion now at Wirefly before the stroke of midnight.

Wirefly Releases Its Top 10 Video Camera Phones of Summer 2009

Ari Driessen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 12:00:29 +0000

RESTON, VA.—September 2, 2009 — Wirefly (www.wirefly.com), the internet’s leading authorized retailer of cell phones and wireless service plans, today announced its Top 10 List of Video Camera Phones on the market today (based on video recording quality). Manufacturer LG made an impressive showing, garnering two of the top three spots, with the Dare placing third and the enV Touch edging out Apple’s iPhone 3GS to earn the coveted Best in Show.

“Some people may be surprised by our Top 10 because it’s not just the usual suspects”, said Andy Zeinfeld, chief executive officer of Simplexity, parent company of Wirefly. “Phones that are primarily known for their high-quality cameras did not disappoint, but we were pleased to also see outstanding video performance from a wide range of other devices including smartphones from BlackBerry, Apple, and HTC. Our winner, the enV Touch by LG, is best known as a high-end messaging phone.”

Over the past couple of years, cell phones have quickly evolved from the voice-centric handsets to multi-functional consumer electronic devices with impressive stand-alone features. Cell phones equipped with MP3 players and cameras with more megapixels than the standard point-and-shoot have become ubiquitous. To remain competitive, manufacturers have now turned their attention to producing devices with quality video recording capabilities.

Zeinfeld continued, “2009 has brought the release of some impressive video-capable handsets. In fact, the devices in the Wirefly.com Top 10 list represent some of the best video cell phones on the market today, with some rivaling the picture quality of stand-alone flip camcorders. With the expandable memory card slots that come in most of these devices, it’s now truly possible for consumers to turn to one single device, a cell phone, for most of their electronic entertainment needs.”

Armed with an arsenal of video recording capable cell phones, Wirefly hit the open road with a mission to test and ultimately determine which devices delivered the best video quality. The following are its picks for the Top Ten Video Camera Phones of Summer 2009, however consumers are encouraged to view the 15 second video clips made from each phone and judge for themselves. Click here to view video clips: http://wirefly.com/learn/company_news/wireflys-top-ten-video-phones/.

Wirefly’s Top 10 Video Camera Phones of Summer 2009

10. HTC Touch Pro (Sprint) – HTC Touch Pro is another member of the expanding “Touch” family from HTC. With a feature set similar to the Touch Diamond, the Pro also adds a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a memory card slot. Other notable features include HTC’s impressive TouchFLO 3D interface, Windows Mobile Pro, a 3.2-megapixel camera, EVDO data speeds, and WiFi. The Touch Pro’s video recording proved great for capturing slow moving scenes; however, it becomes slightly blurry when there were fast movements. Therefore, while we would quickly snag this cell phone to videotape Uncle Bob sleeping on the sofa after that big Thanksgiving feast, but we may turn to another device for recording Little Sally’s dance recital.

9. Samsung Eternity (AT&T) – The Samsung Eternity A867 is a touchscreen device aimed at satisfying the multimedia hungry. The device features support for AT&T Mobile TV, Navigator, Video Share, 3G browsing, and a 3-megapixel camera. The Eternity’s touch display offers vibration response and a full virtual QWERTY keyboard. The colors in the video were bright and vibrant; however, the absence of a flash could make shooting at dusk difficult.

8. LG Xenon (AT&T) – The LG Xenon is a messaging-centric device that features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for rapid-fire texts, instant messages and emails. It is equipped with Bluetooth v2.0 compatibility, voice-driven menu navigation and dialing, and a 2-megapixel camera. It also sports support for AT&T’s Video Share service so you can broadcast live video to friends and family. The video that the LG Xenon captured appeared smoother than its predecessors, but sometimes appeared pixilated in areas with heavy motion.

7. BlackBerry Curve 8900 (AT&T and T-Mobile) – BlackBerry smartphones have long laid to rest their “all business” image. The popular BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a multimedia entertainment powerhouse with a full HTML browser, WIFI, a 3.2-megapixel camera, and GPS. The built-in camcorder flew through our tests with more vivid colors and less pixilation than many 3-megapixel camera phones.

6. Samsung Behold (T-Mobile) – The Samsung Behold T919 debuts Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface. It features a set of drag-and-drop widgets that will allow you to customize the home screen, a 5-megapixel camera, expandable memory, and voice-controlled menus. Just like the camera feature, the video recorder has a 4x digital zoom with autofocus and a power LED flash, resulting in smooth, crisp, and bright footage no matter what time of day.

5. Samsung Omnia (Verizon Wireless) – Taking a dramatic step up from the Behold in video quality, the Samsung Omnia for Verizon Wireless is a touchscreen smartphone. The Omnia is loaded with Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro, and features a full HTML Web browser, 5-megapixel camera, FM radio, 8GB of internal memory, and a MicroSD card slot that supports up to 16GB. The Omnia video was crisp and clean with impressive detail beginning to approach that of a handheld camcorder. Though not a requirement for this Top 10 list, the Omnia offers video editing/trimming, live dubbing, audio and the ability to add subtitles, so owners of this device can moonlight as movie producers and create their own mini-masterpieces when they aren’t placing phone calls.

4. Samsung Memoir (T-Mobile) -The Samsung Memoir T929 is the nation’s first device to boast an 8-megapixel camera with a Xenon flash, auto-focus, 16x digital zoom, shutter modes and editing tools, so it was no surprise when the Memoir finished in our top four cell phones for video quality. As a bonus, the Memoir’s memory card slot takes up to 16GB microSD cards to shoot up to one hour of impressive video. Throw a couple of memory cards in your bag and you’re covered for an entire vacation.

3. LG Dare (Verizon Wireless) – With amazingly crisp and colorful video, the popular LG Dare takes a laudable, if surprising spot near the top of the Video Phone list. This touchscreen device offers EVDO speeds, a 3″ hi-resolution display, a 3.2-megapixel camera, a built-in music player, full featured web browsing, and GPS.

2. Apple iPhone 3GS (AT&T)- The Apple iPhone 3G was often poked fun at for lacking a camcorder feature. The iPhone 3GS for AT&T came onto the video phone stage with something to prove — and with video quality that’s among the best in our tests – the 3GS undoubtedly accomplished its mission. It’s also relatively easy to trim iPhone 3Gs clips and upload them directly to YouTube, but iPhone users with a lot of video to shoot won’t want to throw out their camcorders. Without a memory card slot, you are limited to the iPhone’s built-in memory.

1. LG enV Touch (Verizon Wireless) – If we said we expected the video quality the enV Touch delivered, we would be lying. We were undoubtedly pleasantly surprised. Since its debut a couple months back, the LG enV Touch has been making waves in Verizon Wireless’ handset lineup. The enV Touch is a messaging device with advanced multimedia capabilities, including an HTML web browser, an enhanced music player, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and a 3” external touchscreen display with a twin non-touch internal screen and full QWERTY keyboard. For video quality, the LG enV Touch edged out the iPhone 3Gs as the champion of this summer’s Top Ten Video Phone lineup.

For more information on the devices listed, including current pricing, visit www.wirefly.com.

About Wirefly:

Wirefly.com is the online leader in one-stop comparison shopping for cell phones, wireless service plans and wireless accessories. Owned and operated by Simplexity, Wirefly.com is an authorized dealer for every major cellular carrier in the U.S. Wirefly.com also offers discounts and services not available in retail wireless stores, including real-time online order status and tracking, and the guaranteed lowest price – online or anywhere else — on cell phone devices from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry and many other cell phone handset manufacturers. Wirefly.com has been named Best of the Web by Forbes magazine as the “best all-around number portability portal” and “Best in Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Performance Systems. For more information on Wirefly.com, its wireless products and its services, visit www.wirefly.com.

Contact:
Megan E. Murray
Simplexity
mmurray@simplexity.com
703.657.4102

T-Mobile Waived Activation is here again at Wirefly, Save $35 Per Line

Ari Driessen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:02:57 +0000

If you’ve been waiting to get that new T-Mobile phone you’ve had your eyes on, now is the time. Wirefly will waive the $35 activation fee on each new line you activate until midnight Monday. This limited time offer applies to up to five lines, netting you a savings of up to $175 on your family plan.

Be sure to check out the Samsung Behold, one of Wirefly’s best selling full touch screen devices. This sleek device boasts a 5-megapixel camera, built-in GPS for turn-by-turn directions, and Samsung’s TouchWiz interface with drag-and-drop widgets.

Check out the T-Mobile Wavied Activation promotion right now.