Cricket/Leap Wireless Reports iPhone Sales Weaker Than Expected

[lilo777]

Originally Posted by Rogifan

Apple is doomed.

Apple is not doomed but AAPL is.

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Originally Posted by ghost187

Honestly the existence of android can be explained by one word, greed. iPhones are clearly the superior products in almost every aspect. For example the iPhone 5 costs $200 to make and ship, while it is sold for $650. To add insult to injury, older models are discounted only by $100 after a year. The "almost 3 year old" iPhone 4 still costs $450 off contract. Hypothetically speaking, if Apple sold the iPhone 5 for "free" on contract ($450 off contract) the sales would more than double and margins would not be an issue. You make more just because of the sheer volume of sales. Or here is the most ideal solution. Discount older iPhones by $200 every year. That way the 2-3 year old phone can be the prepaid phone for $250. No need to waste money on R/D for a budget iPhone. $250 may sound too cheap but let's not forget taxes and tariffs around the world that add about 50-100% to the price of foreign goods.

Does not your message prove that it is iPhone existence that can be explained by one word, greed (as in Apple greed)?

[jms969]

Originally Posted by GuitarDTO

You switched back to Windows machines!? I've stated in other threads, my Macbook Pro and iPad are two things you won't peel from my cold dead hands ; )

EDIT: to add a bit to what you said though, I don't think the hardware was stale necessarily. The iPhone 5 is a friggin snappy phone, more than the Galaxy series IMO from my test runs in the stores. The OS is the stale part to me, and yes the size as well.

Had to switch back to windows, the software to run my business just was not available on OSX. We never looked back.

But we are not consumers, we are running a business. One of the data sources I use is $20K per year per seat and they support only excel for windows so the macs went and the windows machines came back. It was really a no brainer decision. With OSX, iOS went as well, so we went from nearly complete Apple shop to nearly no Apple platforms in less than a year. It was expensive and painful but oh so much easier...

[mig0]

I would've bought an iphone to use on cricket but for 1 very big problem. The iphone from cricket is not unlocked for domestic use with AT&T or Tmobile, and I'm pretty sure there's no way to use the phone on Sprint or Verizon either. That defeats the entire purpose of buying an unlocked phone. At least buying an unlocked sprint or verizon phone, it can still be used on AT&T/Tmobile/etc. even if the LTE bands are different and not supported.

[GuitarDTO]

Originally Posted by QCassidy352

Geez, nice response to a compliment, "bro."

Apologies if I have totally misread your comment. It doesn't read like a compliment.

[Wicked1]

Originally Posted by iGrip

The Nexus 4 starts at $299. The times, they are a'changing.

Starting to think this will be the wave of the future, If Samsung started doing this or anyone else it could spell some problems for carriers and some smartphone manufacturers however the Nexus 4 is not available on CDMA networks if I am not mistaken.

[igazza]

iPhone isn't that special anymore. Apple fell asleep ages ago.

[soundr]

Somehow I don't think Apple will be surprised to hear this news, obviously they know how many units they are shipping to Cricket.

[alexgowers]

We all know the iphone 5 is selling masses considering it is only one model when others are sellling 5-6 models just to catch up to 'one' single phone.

I think you have to ask why crickets plans and service don't match every other carrier, than an overall downturn in iphone sales, because that won't happen any time soon.

I would prefer a smaller apple with less successful products than pandering to what everyone thinks they want apple to make. Only children enjoy customizing stuff and breaking their phone with bad software and hacks. Many times in the past i've jailbroken and tried all the fun of doing a bit of UI fudging but in the end I just want a product that works the way i expect.

[genovelle]

Originally Posted by ghost187

It is projected that there will be 1 Billion Android devices sold this year. I know for a fact Apple cannot sell third of that this year. Well all I am saying is they would actually make more money selling more phones at a cheaper price.

No they wouldn't. Samsung and company sells tons of cheap phones. Apple still makes 70% of the profit worldwide. Their competitors are mostly losing money to try for market share. They also sell all they can make especially after new releases. Samsung actually has the ability to hold Apple's production back as well to give themselves an edge.

[Bubba Satori]

Shooting the message doesn't provide the therapeutic catharsis that shooting the messenger does.
It's a shame this story wasn't released by an analyst.

[Haswell]

I am waiting for T-Mobile to officially get the iPhone 5

[quietstormSD]

I was kinda rooting for Cricket to make a big smash in the iPhone market to get the big carriers plans in check. It's just tough to break the big 2's grip on the market (AT&T and Verizon)

[Ryth]

This has nothing to do with Apple.

It has to do with a few other things.

One...their coverage sucks.

Two...T-Mobile coming into the game later in the year and their X per month plan where you pay for the phone upfront just like Cricket. Verizon and AT&T will also start providing these types of plans also where you pay upfront.

This is the main reason, especially if Apple introduces the low cost iPhone.

Lastly, the Federal Free Cell Phone plan is going to get the axe or get greatly reduced. This could affect them also.

[NoCleverSNForMe]

Originally Posted by Ryth

This has nothing to do with Apple.

It has to do with a few other things.

One...their coverage sucks.

Two...T-Mobile coming into the game later in the year and their X per month plan where you pay for the phone upfront just like Cricket. Verizon and AT&T will also start providing these types of plans also where you pay upfront.

This is the main reason, especially if Apple introduces the low cost iPhone.

Lastly, the Federal Free Cell Phone plan is going to get the axe or get greatly reduced. This could affect them also.

How about...you can't buy one? I'm surprised that my market, the Washington DC metro area, doesn't have Cricket iPhones. Go to the Cricket website and type in 20001, a DC zip code, and it will reject you and recommend Android phones.

I'm baffled as to why that's happening. I have a few friends who have asked me (because I'm the "Apple guy" in my circle of friends) about the Cricket iPhone, and I can't tell them anything. I can personally say that I know of 4 people who would have purchased one if Cricket decided to launch it in big markets like ours.

I'm really, really curious how the Virgin Mobile iPhone did, and how the Straight Talk iPhone will do. I personally switched last week to Straight Talk; I have enjoyed Verizon's service for $45/mo. An excellent bargain.

[Ryth]

Originally Posted by NoCleverSNForMe

How about...you can't buy one? I'm surprised that my market, the Washington DC metro area, doesn't have Cricket iPhones. Go to the Cricket website and type in 20001, a DC zip code, and it will reject you and recommend Android phones.

I'm baffled as to why that's happening. I have a few friends who have asked me (because I'm the "Apple guy" in my circle of friends) about the Cricket iPhone, and I can't tell them anything. I can personally say that I know of 4 people who would have purchased one if Cricket decided to launch it in big markets like ours.

I'm really, really curious how the Virgin Mobile iPhone did, and how the Straight Talk iPhone will do. I personally switched last week to Straight Talk; I have enjoyed Verizon's service for $45/mo. An excellent bargain.

Well I'm sure Straight Talk was another reason. They are in all Walmarts. Think about the clientele Walmart gets. They are most likely to buy it there then at Cricket.

[NoCleverSNForMe]

Originally Posted by Ryth

Well I'm sure Straight Talk was another reason. They are in all Walmarts. Think about the clientele Walmart gets. They are most likely to buy it there then at Cricket.

Funny that you say that! That deal made me go to a Wal-Mart for the first time in 4 years.

I had to go to three before I found an iPhone 5; they sold out very quickly. So grateful that they're all right by each other. :-p

[el-John-o]

Originally Posted by GuitarDTO

Agreed, although in this case I'm not sure how much more innovation there is to be had with phones, other than just expanding on consumers personal preferences? Apple is no doubt working hard on coming out with the next "iPhone" type disruption in other industries, but those types of shifts don't happen too often. I think Apple will continue to sell phones well, but the competition will also do well and will take market share away from Apple, but they'll still always have a nice chunk of the market.

I'm more curious to know what will happen when phones have the power of running full blown PC/Mac applications and what the setup/interface to do that will be. Imagine all your professional type apps on your mobile device with you at all times. I believe that's when we'll see larger innovations again in the mobile market, when the computing power gets to that point. Could be sooner rather than later but who knows.

Well that's where innovation comes in. If it was an established technology and a universally desired feature, it becomes 'competing', like adding LTE. Like Henry Ford said and Steve Jobs loved to quote; "If I asked my customers what they wanted, they'd tell me 'a faster horse!'". What made/makes Apple great, is innovating in ways that are incredibly simple and make perfect sense, yet nobody else was doing or even thinking about. A great example IS the iPhone. Others accepted conventional technology that on screen keyboards and anything other than a plastic keyboard doesn't work. Apple completely re-wrote the smartphone genre, but in actuality they didn't do that much, they just made some simple innovations. Ones most in the technology world would list the limitations of before even thinking about developing, whereas Apple was seeking to conquer the limitations.

I'm a consumer, not an engineer. It's not my job to know what the next big thing is, it's the engineers at Apple, Samsung, Google, HTC, etc., to show me what it is and compete for my money!

I mean sure the iPhone could have NFC or a faster CPU or curved glass or any number of features. But that's just features, that's just keeping up with the joneses. When I say I want to see innovation at Apple (or Samsung, or whoever! I don't think ANYONE is really doing it right now), I mean brand new things, not stuff we've been talking about for 5 years.

[Ryth]

Originally Posted by el-John-o

Well that's where innovation comes in. If it was an established technology and a universally desired feature, it becomes 'competing', like adding LTE. Like Henry Ford said and Steve Jobs loved to quote; "If I asked my customers what they wanted, they'd tell me 'a faster horse!'". What made/makes Apple great, is innovating in ways that are incredibly simple and make perfect sense, yet nobody else was doing or even thinking about. A great example IS the iPhone. Others accepted conventional technology that on screen keyboards and anything other than a plastic keyboard doesn't work. Apple completely re-wrote the smartphone genre, but in actuality they didn't do that much, they just made some simple innovations. Ones most in the technology world would list the limitations of before even thinking about developing, whereas Apple was seeking to conquer the limitations.

I'm a consumer, not an engineer. It's not my job to know what the next big thing is, it's the engineers at Apple, Samsung, Google, HTC, etc., to show me what it is and compete for my money!

I mean sure the iPhone could have NFC or a faster CPU or curved glass or any number of features. But that's just features, that's just keeping up with the joneses. When I say I want to see innovation at Apple (or Samsung, or whoever! I don't think ANYONE is really doing it right now), I mean brand new things, not stuff we've been talking about for 5 years.

The thing is Samsung isn't innovating. All they are doing is up'ing hardware specs and increasing screen size.

I think Apple is already on to the next big thing which is the 'personal communication device'...in that iWatch which will most likely tie in with their rest of their devices and eco system.

[M-O]

Originally Posted by OrangeSVTguy

Does their service suck?

yes.

[M-O]

Originally Posted by Ryth

The thing is Samsung isn't innovating. All they are doing is up'ing hardware specs and increasing screen size.

Exactly! I'm so sick of people complaining that Apple isn't innovating but they point to Samsung as someone who is!? What a joke. Spec bumps are not innovation. You could argue that NFC is, but that was most likely a push by Google that Samsung played along with. Either way, it hasn't been very successful.

Anyway. With Google doing all their R&D in the public eye, people know they are working on cool stuff. Apple works behind the scenes, so people look to rumors to figure out what they are working on. If there are no decent rumors, Apple must not be working on anything.

Or perhaps Tim wasn't joking when he said they were doubling-down on security

[mudman2]

Originally Posted by GuitarDTO

I like my iPhone 5...BUT. It is starting to feel stale. Meanwhile, Samsung keeps pushing the envelope with the Galaxy series (Note, S3)....the Lumia's are somewhat interesting, and I'm also curious to check out what the new Blackberry has to offer. I'm not surprised by this type of news, there is a lot of great competition out there now, and we as consumers (not fanboys) all benefit.

EDIT: and yes, who the F is cricket?

hahahahahaha

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Originally Posted by jms969

Had to switch back to windows, the software to run my business just was not available on OSX. We never looked back.

But we are not consumers, we are running a business. One of the data sources I use is $20K per year per seat and they support only excel for windows so the macs went and the windows machines came back. It was really a no brainer decision. With OSX, iOS went as well, so we went from nearly complete Apple shop to nearly no Apple platforms in less than a year. It was expensive and painful but oh so much easier...

We got around that and use iMacs running XP Vmware View Clients for the Windows business stuff we use and the mac for everything else

If it was not for .Net framework we would have ported to mac

[albusseverus]

What's interesting here… (and it's not Samsung can't outsell the superseded iPhone 4S, much less the 5, see i can play that game too)

…is that one exec says one thing, the next exec says another.

Since they're getting paid more than all the contributors to this thread combined, let's pretend they're not stupid. The question becomes, "What is Cricket/Leap up to with these statements?"

Does pretending iPhone isn't selling well advantage Cricket/Leap in some way?

• Does it advantage them in dealing with Apple? Does it push them into a 'we're selling less, so we have to buy less/pay less' clause in the contract?
• Is it a bargaining position? 'Give us a better deal or we'll talk down your product and maybe your share price.'
• Does it get them a better deal with Samsung, if they talk down the competition?

Who knows what's going on? We don't get to see the contracts. What's clear, is that Cricket/Leap are up to something. Keep the focus on the Exec manipulation of the facts.

[ctcampbell]

So carrier commits to a number, and half way through the year will have purchased half of that number. How is this news?

Edit: Ah, half of their commitment for the year to date, not calendar year.

[NewAnger]

Originally Posted by iGrip

The Nexus 4 starts at $299. The times, they are a'changing.

And the phone is unlocked. I am able to use my iPhone AT&T sim in my Nexus 4 as well as my T-Mobile sim.

There are much better full price phones out there than the iPhone these days.
I got my Nexus 4 for free with contract on T-Mobile.

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Originally Posted by Wicked1

Starting to think this will be the wave of the future, If Samsung started doing this or anyone else it could spell some problems for carriers and some smartphone manufacturers however the Nexus 4 is not available on CDMA networks if I am not mistaken.

T-Mobile has some serious HSPA data speeds. On AT&T, I can only get up to about 8Mbps. On T-Mobile using my Nexus 4, I get between 17-21Mbps. That's enough for me to forget my iPhone and move on.

Not only that, I can tether on the Nexus 4 simply by enabling it.

[Dustman]

Originally Posted by Essenar

No, the issue is that Apple isn't subsidizing the pricing with Cricket because it's a no contract commitment.

What would you rather do, pay $600 for an iPhone 5 followed by $55 a month for unlimited text, minutes and data on a CDMA 3G network (1.5Mb/s if you're LUCKY) or $650 for an iPhone 5 and pop in a Walmart based T-Mobile SIM card and get 100 minutes, unlimited text messages and 5GB of 4G data at HSPA+ speeds mostly throughout the nation?

It's an easy choice to make. It's the same reason Verizon needed LTE on the iPhone 5 and they're Big Red, leaders of marketshare for users in the United States.

except you wouldnt be getting t-mobile's hspa+ 4g. you'd be getting gsm 2g @ 10kbps.