It's all over tonight, folks, say goodnight to the little MVNO that almost could. Some interesting tidbits:

• Here's a PDF of what they're auctioning off as part of their bankruptcy hearings (via Wired). Fun bits: More office equipment and computers than you can shake a stick at, a heapin' helpin' of intellectual property (mostly that neat content they created plus trademarks), and a popcorn machine.
• Surprisingly, it doesn't look like current Amp'd customers will be moved to Verizon, but to Prexar Mobile. Who? what? where? ...basically all of the standard questions apply here. I guess the best place to get started is their webpage: http://prexarmobile.com/. They're promising a "seamless transition," anyhow.
• Ousted CEO Peter Adderton gave an interview, where he was actually nice to "Pay us now" Verizon and also said that it wasn't so much that his customers were poor deadbeats but that they just weren't getting billed in the first place (oops):

In 17 weeks, we got 100K subscribers, and little problems in billing and collections suddenly became bigger problems. It wasn’t just customers with bad credit, but it was customers with high credit who just weren’t being billed at all. [...] I think Verizon Wireless got a bad rap out of this for no reason. Verizon did a lot to help us through the hard times. I do believe Verizon got the bad end of the stick on this.

Read: Audio Interview: Peter Adderton, Former CEO, Amp’d Mobile

Embedded below: one of my favorite Amp'd commercials. Not embedded below - this absolutely Not-Safe-For-Work-but-hilarious-nevertheless commercial. Their whole "Try Not To Die, Amp'd Mobile is Coming" is looking a little bittersweet these days.

Update 2: Yeesh. The Q and A now says July 31st. But customer service supposedly is done for. So if you are an amp'd customer, go find a bill with your account number and then get your current mobile # ported asap. How long until we start titling these posts "amp'd zombiewatch" instead of "deathwatch?"

Update: The Consumerist says "Port your number" to another carrier right now. We agree. Here's their helpful how-to.

So Amp'd is selling off assets, perhaps to help with that bankruptcy. And while that might unsettle subscribers, here's the real excitement - It might shut down ENTIRELY tomorrow. That's per a Q and A on Amp'd's site:

Is Amp'd going out of business?
Amp'd is potentially suspending US operations on July 24th.

How long will customer service be provided to help with issues such as ports or credits?
Customer Service will not be available after July 23rd.

Will Amp'd be bought by another carrier?
Amp'd is currently in discussions with several parties.

When I decide on my new wireless service provider - can I take my phone?
Yes, if your service provider of choice uses CDMA.

Read: Amp'd Mobile | Questions And Answers via engadget mobile

Engadget mobile also points out that Best Buy is dropping Amp'd like a bad habit. If you're a subscriber to Amp'd, my condolences. It's looking like a firesale to Verizon is your best hope right now. Actually, your best hope is to take that little CDMA device you have there and see if you can talk Sprint or Verizon into activating it on their network directly.

Previous Deathwatch articles: Amp'd Declares Bankruptcy, CEO Peter Adderton Ousted, and Brief Stay of Execution. Turns out that stay was very brief.

Poor Amp'd. They are as deep in debt as a teenager who just got a new credit card and spent all their money on a new amp'd phone but can't actually afford to pay for it (see what I did there?). So Verizon told them to pay up the $33 million they owe - Now. Then their CEO was ousted. Finally a tiny glimmer of hope: Amp'd gets to use some of its cash to keep the company running for another few days, though June 25th.

Of course, that cash actually belongs to Verizon, who's none-too-happy about the judge letting Amp'd spend it on frivolities like keeping a network running. Actually, Verizon is worried that Amp'd will use the cash to pay for legal fees necessary to weasel out of negotiate their bankruptcy terms.

Not even 'Lil Bush (originally an amp'd cartoon, now headed to Comedy Central) can save them now.

Judge Brendan Shannon of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Monday signed off Amp'd Mobiles's request to use Verizon's cash collateral to keep its so-called mobile virtual network up and running through June 25.

Read: Amp'd Mobile's Use of Lender's Cash OKed | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Amp'd recently declared bankruptcy - they owe Verizon (among others) a ton of money. Money that they don't have because those crazy rotten teenagers that make up the largest portion of their customer base haven't been paying their bills. You kids.

The latest bit comes via Engadget, who notes that Amp'd just gave their CEO the boot - he's apparently been replaced by Sue Swenson, who is now listed as the Chief Operating Officer over at the amp'd management bio page. Best of luck to you, Swenson. If you're looking for ways to make those crazy young'uns pay up, I'm told that grounding doesn't really work with teenagers. I'd suggest that you try taking away their cellphone, but that probably isn't a punishment you'd consider, is it?

the rumors that CEO Peter Adderton's days were thusly numbered have finally materialized into reality. mocoNews reports that the ex-chief is still Amp'd's largest single shareholder and maintains a position on the board,

Read: Peter Adderton out as Amp'd CEO - Engadget Mobile

Update: Apparently the bankruptcy was triggered because Verizon, which is the carrier that amp'd uses for their service, asked ever so gently that they pay $4.5 million of the $33 million owed within 10 days. Then Verizon threatened to up and shut amp'd down - though it's possible they only did that because their lawyers told them to. It's looking like the future of a major cellular provider is going to be resolved where God meant it to be -- in the courts.

Read: Verizon Threatens To Shut Off Amp'd (Phone Scoop)

MVNO's have a rough time of it, it seems. I'd thought that amp'd mobile was doing alright, but I clearly thought wrong. Here's the "ouch" part of amp'd's (a lot of apostrophes there) business plan:

Apparently, those free-spending youths don't care much for paying their cell-phone bills. A court motion filed on June 4 explains that Amp'd "experienced an unprecedented growth of subscribers" between November, 2006, and February after running ads on MTV (VIA) about the wireless phone company's lineup of mobile music and video content.

Collecting payments from these subscribers proved to be a challenge, however. "Approximately 90% of the debtor's customers were on 18-month service contracts," according to the filing. "The debtor began to find a host of credit and collections problems (that) contributed ultimately to a liquidity crisis." By May, the number of nonpaying customers reached 80,000. That's nearly half of Amp'd's current customer base of 175,000 subscribers.

There's rumor that Verizon might snap them up, but then again, there were rumors that Verizon wanted to snap up Alltel. I'd advise against it, Verizon. 50% of amp'd customers aren't paying their bills? The hip and young demographic may seem appealing, but "hip" and "young" apparently also means "poor."

Read: Press Release via Gadgetorama

No surprise here, but it's nice to see it officially: Amp'd (yes, we're sweet on them) now offers the MotoQ. One interesting bit: they've customized the wazoo out of it, including a snazzy interface:

Amp’d is the first US carrier to utilize Adobe’s Flash Lite technology as the main user interface. With this technology, consumers will experience Amp’d Live’s robust broadband content and programming lineup to its fullest potential, including streaming TV, Amp’d Original programs, music, viral videos, 3D multiplayer games, ringtones, wallpapers and more.

(Thanks to InfoSync World for the image, full images here)

Read: Motorola Media Center - Press Releases

amp'd mobile is probably the only MVNO that I respect, they seem to be doing well and offering more features to more folks than anybody else these days. Add "Canadians" to those folks, as amp'd has gotten itself attached to Telus's CDMA/EVDO network up north. That's one thing MVNO's have going for them -- you can launch services for an entire country without having to build all those pesky towers, eh?

With the partnership of TELUS and Amp'd Mobile, Inc. ("Amp'd Mobile"), Amp'd Mobile Canada is setting a new bar for mobile entertainment in the Canadian market.

Read: Amp'd Mobile launches in Canada - SlashPhone.com

Engadget noticed that Amp'd Mobile, that hippest of the MVNOs, will be getting the Motorola Q (no, not the Q9 or, it appears, even the Q Pro). We saw this coming back in November, now everybody else can see it too.

Looks like some fool revealed Amp'd's next phone by leaving a user manual up on their downloads site.

Read: Amp'd Motorola Q coming - Engadget Mobile

EverythingQ notes another Q is coming - this time for Pay-As-You-Go MVNO amp'd mobile. Apparently they'll be bumping up the feature set too - adding the SlingMobile player and improving the camera.

From Everything Motorola Q