Boost Mobile is a division of Sprint Nextel. It was originally launched in Australia, over Optus, in 2000, and in New Zealand, over Telecom New Zealand, in 2001.
History
Boost Mobile was founded in Australia and New Zealand in 2000 by Peter Adderton. Adderton and Craig Cooper brought it to the United States in 2001 as an action sports-based lifestyle brand, and entered into a joint venture with Nextel Communications to launch and market the brand, which was primarily to be marketed to the teen and young-adult demographic groups. A strong lure of Boost Mobile with the teen and young adult customer groups was that Boost's Walkie Talkie (Nextel's Direct Connect), for $1 a day ($30 per month), was the only way in the early 2000s to have something similar to unlimited voice minutes. Boost Walkie Talkie naturally only reached other Nextel/Boost IDEN subscribers, and as a form of PTT, was half duplex. Teenagers and young adults are notorious for being early adopters of technology and are stereotyped as heavily using mobile devices and telecommunications. Unlimited voice plans on national carriers didn't come into the United States market until 2008. In 2003, Nextel purchased the American division of Boost Mobile. Until late 2004, Boost Mobile was only available in selected markets, primarily in California and Nevada. Prior to their purchase of Boost Mobile, Nextel primarily focused on the business market.
At the end of 2006, Boost launched its Unlimited by Boost Mobile Service. The service offered unlimited talk, text, and wireless web. To compete with unlimited offerings from competitors in the wireless industry, Boost Mobile announced on January 15, 2009 that it would launch its Monthly Unlimited Plan at $50, inclusive of talk, text, Internet, walkie-talkie, taxes and fees. The plan was accompanied by re-focusing the brand towards a broader demographic than before. The new unlimited plan resulted in a net gain of more than 674,000 customers in less than three months. Despite this lift, Nextel overall suffered a gross subscriber loss of 1.25 million contract subscriptions.
The quick spike caused by the unlimited service resulted in delays of up to several days for the text messages of many customers in April. The new service runs on the Sprint Nextel iDEN network, which previously was best known for its walkie-talkie feature. A Boost Mobile spokesman said that they did not anticipate the level of popularity for the new service, and that efforts to improve the network have been implemented to help mitigate the problem. On May 4, 2009, during the Sprint Nextel Corporation Earnings Conference Call for the first quarter of 2009, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said that "as of today, the messaging network on the iDEN network and for our Boost customers is back to normal."
Boost Mobile had four million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2009.
Plans
- Monthly Unlimited : Includes nationwide unlimited talk, text/media messaging, web access, and Walkie-Talkie.
- BlackBerry Monthly Unlimited : Includes nationwide unlimited talk, text/media messaging, and BlackBerry Web & E-Mail.
- International Connect add-on : An additional $10 a month add-on to the Monthly Plans, International Connect includes unlimited text messaging and walkie-talkie services between the U.S., Canada, Baja California, and selected areas of South America.
- Pay as You Go : 10¢ per minute, anytime - day or night, customers can also send and receive standard text messages for 10¢ per message. Unlimited Nationwide Boost Walkie-Talkie is available for an additional $1 a day.
On January 7, 2010 Boost Mobile announced at the CES 2010, a new $50 monthly unlimited plan using Sprint's nationwide CDMA network to launch January 13, 2010. Only a few handsets are available for this plan, and they are Kyocera's Sanyo Mirro SCP3810 and the Sanyo Incognito SCP6760. Boost Mobile is also offering a $60 BlackBerry monthly unlimited plan for the BlackBerry Curve 8330.
Upon the return to CDMA, Boost Mobile relocated a plan under which customers could have unlimited text messaging for $1 a day. It is still available, but it's been moved to a less prominent part of the website, "More Options." This plan is only available to iDEN phones.
Devices
- Most Nextel-branded iDEN phones can be used with the Boost service with the addition of a Boost SIM card. However, Boost Mobile will not guarantee all service features if a Nextel-branded handset is chosen and you will not receive any support for the device.
Past Devices
Marketing
The Boost Mobile brand was originally marketed to the teen and young adult demographics. Boost Mobile's past American advertising campaigns featured Fat Joe, Master Shake, Eve, Travis Barker, Kanye West, Ludacris, Richard "Rip" Hamilton, Nick Cannon, and The Game and used the slogan "Where you at?" In late 2007, a Boost Mobile commercial with Young Jeezy, Jermaine Dupri, and Mickey Avalon was released. The “Where you at?” slogan referenced the walkie-talkie feature on all Boost Mobile phones and later evolved to highlight a social GPS application that was available on selected Boost Mobile phones.
In early 2009 Boost Mobile launched their Unwronged campaign. The ads feature situations that could be considered “wrong” such as a coroner that drops food into a cadaver and then proceeds to eat it, two pigs dining on ham, a woman with unusually long armpit hair, and a “man baby”. Each commercial focuses on the fact that while what they are, or are doing, may be wrong, what is really wrong is the fact that cell phone providers have hidden fees and that is why they have chosen to use Boost Mobile.
Most recently Boost Mobile began sponsoring IndyCar Series driver Danica Patrick and her Lucky #7 Boost Mobile/Motorola/Andretti Green Racing car. A series of commercials from Boost's Unwronged campaign has featured Danica, one of which had her pit crew dressed up as women, and the other with her signing the chests of men.
Boost Mobile has also produced some regional campaigns, including providing live paper shredders at bus stops in Chicago and Boston, where several times an hour sample contracts from competing wireless service providers would be shredded into confetti.
On January 20, 2010, According to the Wall Street Journal , Boost Mobile's parent company Sprint Nextel managed to secure some of the 1985 Chicago Bears players, including Jim McMahon, Willie Gault, and Mike Singletary, to re-create their famous “Super Bowl Shuffle” rap song and music video as "The Boost Mobile Shuffle" during the first quarter of the Super Bowl XLIV. It’s speculated that Sprint Nextel bought the 30-second Super Bowl commercial spot for around $2.5 million and $2.9 million – so that Boost Mobile’s brand will be recognized during a time when families converge in their living rooms for one of the biggest sporting events. The commercial was directed by comedy duo Tim & Eric.
Sponsorships
- Boost Mobile sponsored a big-time professional surfing event, the Boost Mobile Pro of Surf (ASP World Tour). They sponsored a professional skateboard event, the Boost Mobile Pro of Skateboarding, and logo-labeled skateboards and accessories. Current team riders in the action sports world include:
- One of Boost's most prominent teams in action sports is the Boost Mobile Freestyle Motocross Team, which travels around the country and performs - as well as features some of the biggest names in Freestyle Motocross.
- Boost Mobile is also the official sponsor of Hot Import Nights, a year long event that brings together cars, models, performance artists together at locations nationwide.
- Since 2005 Boost Mobile has sponsored the national volunteer efforts of RockCorps to form Boost Mobile RockCorps. The organization encourages youth to volunteer in their communities for four hours by rewarding them with a ticket to an exclusive concert.
- Boost Mobile also sponsored Danica Patrick in the 2009 Indy Racing League season.
By country
Boost Mobile in Australia uses the Optus network. Optus provides the service while Boost Mobile provides the devices and content.
Boost Mobile in New Zealand is a subsidiary of Telecom New Zealand. Devices and services are sold through Telecom New Zealand while Boost Mobile provides the content. From November 2007 Boost Mobile has been wound down and is only now an SMS plan named Telecom Boost TXT.
As Boost Mobile in the U.S. is wholly owned by Sprint Nextel, they run on both Sprint's CDMA network and Nextel's iDEN network. Unlimited by Boost is designated for the CDMA handsets and is primarily marketed in the Southern and Southwestern US. Boost Nationwide Unlimited (AKA Monthly Unlimited Plan), which differs from their previous unlimited plan, is offered for iDEN handsets as of January 22, 2009. Boost Mobile's walkie-talkie service (only on iDEN handsets) is compatible with Nextel's in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Peru and with Telus Mobility in Canada. Boost offers a $10 add-on to their $50 monthly unlimited to allow unlimited walkie-talkie service between these countries with unlimited international walkie-talkie.In popular culture
- On December 12, 2005, Boost Mobile
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