In photo, from left to right: Jack Huston, CEO of VIP Wireless; Aaron Horne, Philadelphia Inspector of Northwest Detectives; Mike Patterson, Philadelphia Eagles; Michael McCloskey, Philadelphia Chief of Police and Edward Williams, COO of VIP Wireless

Boost Mobile opened its first exclusive retail store in Philadelphia on Friday, with all the pageantry of city police middle management and Eagles defensive tackle Mike “PhatPat” Patterson.

The opening came a day after a deadline Boost imposed on itself to correct lingering problems with a delay in its text messaging delivery.

The delays were blamed on the company’s more than three quarters of a million new prepaid customers in the quarter, which beat analyst expectations, according to Sprint’s first quarter financial results.

Boost has led an advertising blitz on the city.

The store near-ish to the Logan neighborhood of North Philadelphia at Broad and Olney is another step in a battle for low-income cell phone users� between Boost, Metro PCS and Cricket, which entered the Philadelphia market in March. Philadelphia is the most populated region with those three largest prepaid mobile carriers.

At Friday’s store opening, Eagles player Patterson, who is still breathing hard after that 98-yard fumble recovery against the 49ers in 2006, presented on behalf of Boost a $10,000 check to the Philadelphia Police Department, benefiting the John Pawlowski Family Memorial Trust Fund.

In February, Pawlowski, who was 25, was shot and killed at the Broad and Olney intersection.

The retail store was developed in partnership with Boost�s national distributor VIP Wireless. The store will sell the company’s complete product line-up, phone accessory items and other merchandise.

There are at least 19 Cricket Wireless-owned stores in Philadelphia, according to regional company spokesman Jeffrey Bodzewski. There are at least 20 Metro PCS locations.

It’s on.

Technically Philly reported Wednesday that Cricket had the world’s largest cell phone outside the the Shops at Liberty Place. Yesterday, Boost crashed the party.

Less than a half hour after Cricket’s promotional team set up its cell phone and surrounding activity for Thursday’s lunch-time crowd, a flatbed truck – depicted above – hauling a Boost Mobile advertisement and playing an endless loop of Boost boosting began circling the Market West corridor.

We can’t confirm that it ever actually drove down the 1600-block of Chestnut Street, crossing Cricket’s path, but the truck’s presence was most certainly known in the dreary drizzle of a Center City afternoon.

Everyone knew this was going to get serious when Cricket announced it was joining the crowded prepaid mobile field in Philly. Now it has.

If anyone sees anymore of this nonsense, let us know. Think Metro PCS will join the fracas?

Expect some more detailed analysis from Technically Philly.

If you see something related to tech happening in the region, e-mail us or send a photo from your mobile device to info@technicallyphilly.com!

We’d normally forward this off to our pals at Ripley’s Believe it or Not, but the geek deep within our hearts couldn’t pass.

Cricket Wireless and Samsung Electronics are at the Shops at Liberty Place showing off the world’s largest cell phone in a promotional campaign for Cricket, after launching its economical wireless service in Philadelphia earlier this month.

Visitors of the giant, freak-cell phone can actually place calls, although we would have preferred if there was someone hiding inside, pretending to take calls, responding with insults, and staying true to the spirit of this fine city.

If the technology behind the device is proportional to its 195 square-foot mass, we’re expecting it to be just as loud and annoying as any caller on a SEPTA train.

If this isn’t enough for you, you can choose to be ridiculed by the entire YouTube community after singing the promotional Cricket theme on camera or compete in a text messaging battle. There will also be other Cricket mobile phones on display—albeit strangely tiny, pocket-sized ones.

The gargantuan phone will be in the city at 16th and Chestnut until Friday.

Updated: 3/11/09 at 10:18 p.m.

Your choices for cell phone carrier are about to get busier.

According to a company press release, Cricket Communications has entered the scrum to provide cheap mobile phone plans to Philadelphians, joining a growing battle between Boost Mobile, Metro PCS and others. [Full Disclosure: I have a Boost Mobile plan]

Update: Philadelphia is currently the largest market in the country with the three largest prepaid mobile companies, a Boost spokesman said.

“In our current economic landscape, it’s more important than ever for wireless carriers to show that they respect people’s wallets while ultimately providing value,” said Andy Cook, area general manager for Cricket in Philadelphia. “With the launch of Cricket wireless phone and Internet services in Philadelphia, consumers now have a wireless carrier that understands their financial needs and concerns without sacrificing great service and features.”

Cricket is hosting a week’s full of events to promote its market entry — see more here.

The company, a subsidiary of San Diego-based Leap Wireless International, plans to open 20 retail store locations in the Delaware Valley, including 12 stores in Philadelphia. The rest reach out into the suburbs, and from South Jersey to Wilmington, Del. [Full Disclosure: Sean Blanda loves Delaware].

Yesterday, Cricket held opening ceremonies at a new location at 2900 N. Broad Street, near the Allegheny West neighborhood of North Philadelphia – not exactly the “Center City” location it boasted in its press release. The ceremony featured performances by aerialists and acrobats and the presentation of a $20,000 check to Sister Mary Scullion and Project H.O.M.E.

In addition to unlimited mobile phone services, Cricket is also offering Cricket Broadband, giving customers unlimited high-speed Internet access at home or around town anywhere in Cricket’s coverage areas on their desktop or laptop computers. Cricket Broadband service is just $35 per month for customers who also have Cricket’s low-cost unlimited voice plans, and $40 per month as a stand-alone service. …

Cricket’s coverage area expands from Philadelphia and the surrounding suburbs, across South Jersey to Atlantic City and down to Wilmington in Northern Delaware. Cricket rate plans also include unlimited use is all Cricket markets across the U.S., including Pittsburgh and Chicago, as well as Premium Extended Coverage, which allows unlimited use in an even broader area stretching from New York and Boston to California and from Wisconsin to Texas. [Source]

Hat tip to the Business Journal.