There have been rumors about the pairing circling around the internet for the past couple of months. Heliocity had even commented on this, but the two companies had stayed mum denying the rumors — until last Friday.
I received an email from Helio announcing the upcoming merger. Heliocity covered the announcement. Virgin Mobile is acquiring Helio.
To be honest, I’m a bit conflicted about the whole thing. On one hand, VM could bring some very cool services to Helio customers. Their negotiations with Sprint may lower our rates. All of the Helio products will continue to be carried: all apps, games, and including “in process” and upcoming devices such as the Ocean 2 (a.k.a. OZ2). From what I can tell, nothing will change service-wise for quite some time, if at all.
On the other hand though, the Helio label will be no more. No more cool blue flame logo. And as silly as it may sound, that will mean no more Helio fanlisting, no more Helio blogroll, etc. No more Helio, no more anything that embodies being a Helion — and that saddens the Hell out of me. 
Devilish Southern Belle
Joe has been begging for Helio service instead of Virgin Mobile, so this will make him very happy! I just hope the things that are so great about VM (me speaking from a parent’s point of view) will still be in place. I am sorry about the loss of the “Helio” brand and logo…but perhaps something equally cool will be brought to the table?
Devilish Southern Belle’s last blog post: I hang my head in shame.
Nicki
I would think that all of the current VM services would stay the same. I know Helio’s stuff won’t change right away but I’m sure they’ll eventually migrate us over.