Viva Móvil, LLC, branded as Viva Móvil by Jennifer Lopez, was an American

retail Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

service founded by American entertainer

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...

History

Viva Móvil was created by American entertainer

in collaboration with

Brightstar Corporation Likewize (formerly Brightstar Corp.) is an American privately held corporation founded in 1997. It provides global wireless distribution and services, serving mobile device manufacturers, wireless operators and retailers. Likewize offers device and ...

and Moorehead Communications. The company announced their partnership with

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

on May 22, 2013 at the CTIA tradeshow. Many had been anticipating that Verizon Wireless would be announcing its offering the HTC One at the event. According to Lopez,

This new company is here to revolutionize the entire mobile experience for Latinos. There's no specific place for Latinos to be specifically catered to. We will continuously evolve the wireless shopping experience with Verizon Wireless's guidance and support.

As of 2016, the Viva Móvil brand doesn't exist anymore and Jennifer Lopez is no longer attached to the project.

Products and stores

The company's concept is to allow customers to shop for phone service, phones and phone accessories online, via

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

and other social networks, and at retail locations. The company's first store was scheduled to open in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on June 15, 2013. Fifteen stores were expected to open in 2013 in cities across the United States, including

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

and

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

. Each store is planned to include a large array of devices for people to try out before they decide on their purchase. Plans call for the stores to have play areas for children. In an article containing details regarding the company's first store located in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Simone Weichselbaum of ''

The New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in t ...

'' noted that it was "vibrant", and unlike typical Verizon stores, the Viva Móvil store has brighter colors, bilingual staff and play area for children. In addition, multiple pictures of Lopez, as well as wall television screens playing music videos, are present, among various other specific features. In an analysis of Viva Móvil's strategy, ''Wireless Week's'' Ben Munson commented that the company's appeal to "'social commerce' is indicative of the trend toward consumers educating themselves – via learning from friends or reading research, reviews and news – and buying their wireless devices and service away from the retail shops." He suggested that "carrier stores and wireless retailers could go further in making the customer feel valued especially considering how big of a time and financial commitment many of them are making" and that "the least the carriers can do is make the 90 minutes or so spent in the store a little less excruciating."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Viva Movil American companies established in 2013 Jennifer Lopez Verizon Communications