Kyocera and Virgin Mobile deal out a Wild Card

Virgin Mobile has been selling the Kyocera Wild Card since October 7, but it's finally making the phone available to its retail partners like Best Buy, Target, and RadioShack.

Also known as the Kyocera M1000, the Wild Card is exactly the same as Cricket's Lingo except for a few services that only Virgin Mobile offers. An update to the Kyocera Switch Back, the Wild Card has a much sleeker look and includes a few improvements, like a 1.3-megapixel camera and Bluetooth support. Virgin Mobile also has thrown in a few options, like an unlimited messaging plan for $19.99 a month, a monthly mobile "magazine" called Headliner for $2.49 a month (the magazine will also offer streaming music for 25 cents a track), and a Contact Vault that backs up all your contacts for $1.99 a month or $9.99 for every six months.

One definite upside to the Kyocera Wild Card from Virgin Mobile is that it's only $99.99, as opposed to Cricket's Lingo, which is $199. The Wild Card will be available on Virgin Mobile's online store starting October 24.