Virgin Mobile releases smartphone tailored plans

And grows shop numbers around the country.

Gossip Girl's Ed Westwick shows off his Samsung phone.	Virgin Mobile marketing director Anthony Hearne.	Virgin Mobile marketing director Anthony Hearne addresses the media.
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Virgin Mobile has opened 16 shops in regional and metro areas of Australia since late last year, the company revealed today at its Smart Cap plans launch in Sydney.

At the unveiling, Virgin revealed its intention to continue expanding but "did not have a finite number of shops in the mind".

"We'll continue looking for opportunities and open stores as and when it fits in with our customer needs," the company stated. 

Meanwhile, Virgin Mobile released its 'data centric' Smart Cap plans tailored to suit the needs of smartphone users.

The plans include unlimited standard text to any network and a rollover option to the following month for unused talk and text.

Anthony Hearne, marketing director of Virgin Mobile Australia, said the plans are optimised for a high usage of text and data.

"We see smartphones as no longer a device for an elite few," he said. "The move to smartphones and the need for people to stay connected is driving an increasing demand for text and data allowances.

"The included voice call rates are less than normal plans," he said. 

Voice calls rates are 99 cents a minute on a $29 monthly plan, which came with $50 credit.

Virgin also revealed that it will stock the iPhone 4 when Apple releases it in July.

Samsung Wave and Galaxy and the Sony Ericsson X10 are also available.

Hearne said its first time Virgin Mobile has a "full range of smartphones".

Virgin Mobile Smart Caps start at $29 per month with a 1GB data cap, or maximum of $109 with 4GB of data and $1000 credit for other services.