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Sprint eyes vanity numbers with $3-a-month StarStar initiative

The company will now let users choose their own number combination with help from Zoove's Star Star.

Don Reisinger
CNET contributor Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has covered everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Besides his work with CNET, Don's work has been featured in a variety of other publications including PC World and a host of Ziff-Davis publications.
Don Reisinger
StarStar Me works on Sprint's network.
StarStar Me works on Sprint's network. Sprint

Sprint customers will now be able to have their own vanity numbers.

The mobile carrier has announced a partnership with Zoove that will now allow its customers to have their own StarStar numbers. According to Sprint, customers can choose their names, personal handles, or other tags, and set them as their StarStar Me numbers.

StarStar is run by Zoove, which has heretofore delivered its services to companies. Zoove's CEO Joe Gillespie previously served as executive vice president of CBS Interactive, CNET's parent company.

Upon picking a handle, a company's customers can text or call it by entering two stars and then whatever the handle is. After doing so, the application returns anything from a link to a mobile app to a special message and Web URL. The service works across all popular mobile operating systems, including iOS and Android, and supports phones running on all major carrier networks.

The implementation is nearly identical with Sprint's StarStar Me. However, the carrier says that its service will respond with a custom text message or link to personal information.

Sprint's StarStar Me will cost users $3 per month per StarStar Me number. According to the carrier, users can opt to have two numbers per device.

Looking ahead, it's possible that StarStar Me will be made available on other carrier networks. Sprint was very clear in its statement on the matter that it's the first to have StarStar Me, and not Zoove's exclusive partner.