Marketing plan development and strategy

Marketing Plan

Virgin Mobile Marketing Plan

Target Markets

The intended target market for the Virgin Mobile SmartPhone are real estate professionals who work virtually, often responding to e-mails, cell phone calls and proposals while in client meetings or traveling between appointments. SmartPhones need to replace a laptop computers' communication and collaborative needs of this market segment.

Real estate professionals work from virtual offices that often are in their cars, homes, or in their hardcover notebooks they use in coffee shops that have WiFi enabled.

Unmet need for having e-mail, cell phone, contacts and safe force automation applications, in addition to support for Microsoft Office applications.

Managing the many forms of content and communication from e-mails, cell phone messages, received documents all need to be captured in a single customer record. SmartPhones now have this functionality.

Market Positioning

The SmartPhone market has been dominated by the Blackberry Series of products from Research in Motion (RIM) yet has recently seen the introduction of low-priced competitors including the Palm Centro that is creating a price war at the low-end of the market. The proposed Virgin Mobile SmartPhone would be priced at the same level as the Palm Centro with additional features including support for Web browsing and support of web-based applications.

Rationale

The high end of the SmartPhone market provides ample margin opportunities for Virgin Mobile to launch a new model into the mid-range of the market.

Palm Centro is defining the low-end of the market with a de-featured SmartPhone that leaves mobile professionals' needs unmet including realtors.