The prepaid market fascinates me for a variety of reasons, perhaps because I’m a sociology buff, and these phones are obviously meant for an underclass (regardless of how they’re marketed - which is usually to teens). And that’s not even bringing up the use of prepaid cells in organized crime, which might be the sole reason they’re profitable.

But anyway, this is a longwinded way of saying that when it comes to mobile, I find the prepaid market to be the most interesting, and I probably watch it a little closer than I do other areas.

Virgin Mobile is what I’d probably label the trendiest of the prepaid providers, and they’re launching a new phone they’ve dubbed “Slice”. It’s a thin phone (10mm), with 32mb of storage, an FM radio transmitter, a 128×128 display, and a speakerphone, but when it comes to frills that’s about it. The phone is priced at a pretty disposable $50, which ought to make it pretty popular when it comes to Virgin users.

Not sure if this is officially available yet, but Engadget Mobile says that Circuit City is selling them as of now.