In a move to cash in on the back-to-school mobile phone-buying sprees, Verizon Wireless on Monday launched a new phone dubbed “Blitz.”

Verizon Wireless is billing the phone as a device designed for the heaviest of texters. Loosely translated, that means tweens, or preteens.

The Blitz comes with a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and a committed My Messaging key. The tween-friendly phone additionally offers a 2.2-inch screen for browsing the Web or checking e-mail.

additionally urgent to the youth demographic, the Blitz is a music player. Verizon’s latest product comes equipped with an MP3 player that can access the Verizon V CAST Music with Rhapsody service.

“The nice part about technology, as with most things, is that mature platforms fragment,” said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile research for Jupiter Media. “So we have these youth-optimized devices that we really have never seen just a few years ago.”

Priced to Sell

The Blitz is selling for

$69.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and a new two-year customer agreement with Verizon. Customers can sign up for V CAST Music with Rhapsody for a $14.99 monthly subscription.

“What’s nice about it is that it appeals to a demographic that doesn’t have a whole lot of money in their pocket,” Gartenberg said. “These kids don’t have $200 or $300 dollars to spend on a phone, although they’d like to. The Blitz is cool decent that you don’t have to be branded as the person using the cheap phone in school.”

The Blitz plus incorporates a 1.3-megapixel camera with color effects and a self-portrait mirror. It supports Bluetooth devices; is mobile Web-capable; offers mobile e-mail functionality through MSN, Hotmail, America Online and Yahoo; and offers a media center that lets young society download games, ringtones, wallpapers, location-based services and other media.

The Blitz additionally comes with mobile instant-messaging capabilities and picture messaging,…

Original post by dhiram