NEW YORK—Mobile virtual network operator Cool Mobile has run into trouble, with Motorola Inc. ending its relationship with the MVNO less than two weeks after Cool announced plans to use the equipment manufacturer’s devices and services.
Cool soft-launched in December and recently began touting its goals for 2006. The loss of Motorola throws a wrench into most of them; Cool company officials said that the MVNO would extend its cool.prepaid handset line-up from three to six Motorola phones, and that Cool was collaborating with Motorola to offer music streaming and full-length track downloads with the vendor’s iRadio service.
Cool released a statement confirming that the relationship with Motorola had ended, but that the MVNO would continue to offer service. The company said that cool.prepaid had “broadened its business to market the sale of its prepaid services through a wide array of handsets including the direct sale of SIM cards and other mobile devices, providing Coolprepaid.com with more flexibility in the marketing of its services.”
Motorola also confirmed that the company no longer had a relationship with Cool; a spokesman declined further comment.
Although phones such as the Razr were still listed on Cool’s site on Monday, by Tuesday morning the site’s only offering was a SIM card for $20.
