Blyck, Sugar Mama and Xero Mobile - Textually.org

Coming to (free) mobile phones for youths: Ads

Pitching itself as the world's first advertising-supported phone company, a Finnish company called Blyk plans to roll out a free mobile phone service next summer aimed at 16- to 24-year- olds, first in Britain and then elsewhere in Europe. The IHT reports.

"Under the plan, subscribers would fill out a questionnaire on the Internet that includes personal details and interests and then receive a telephone SIM card offering an as yet unspecified number of voice minutes and text messages per month. Advertisements sent to the phone would be based on the answers.

... A couple of variations are being tried. Virgin Mobile USA started a program in June, called Sugar Mama, that allows users to earn one minute of talk time by watching a 30-second commercial on a computer or receiving a text messages on their phone and then answering questions to prove they paid attention. Another company, Xero Mobile in Los Angeles, plans to test an advertising-supported phone service in January aimed at students in U.S. universities."