Cricket/Leap Wireless Reports iPhone Sales Weaker Than Expected

[chairguru22]

Cricket agrees to sell $900 million in iPhones in 3 years, assuming it costs them $200/phone, that's 4.5 million iPhones. They only have about 6.5 million customers. So they want 70% of their customers to buy an iPhone???

 

[el-John-o]

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

Actually that is what I was saying too. In fact, I quite literally said that; guess that poster didn't read the whole paragraph. NOBODY is innovating. All I said was, someone needs to, and I don't care who it is!

NFC isn't innovating, it's a decades old technology that has been long since miniaturized and there is a debate going on whether or not it can become a consumer product or not. There's no innovation there, it's just a case of whether or not to put it in there.

Heck, back in the 1990's I had a Mobil 'paypass' that was mounted in my back windshield and was tied to my credit card. Whenever you pull up to the pump, a light comes on telling you it connected and you can start pumping. Was a little thing the size of the palm of your hand, they also had a keychain version. That was NFC technology! It's not new. It's just being considered in a new industry. Now mastercard is using the technology (under the same name) in a broader sense with lots more merchants, but, it takes me less time to swipe my card at a terminal than it does to hold my NFC enabled card or key fob over the sensor!

 

[peteo]

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.

Why would'nt you walk into a walmart and get strait talk for your iPhone. $45 a month unlimited talk,text, internet. It runs on at&t so you dont even need an unlocked iPhone.

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Cricket agrees to sell $900 million in iPhones in 3 years, assuming it costs them $200/phone, that's 4.5 million iPhones. They only have about 6.5 million customers. So they want 70% of their customers to buy an iPhone???

$200 a phone? more like 450-600. apple does not give subsidies to the carriers.

 

[NoCleverSNForMe]

Why would'nt you walk into a walmart and get strait talk for your iPhone. $45 a month unlimited talk,text, internet. It runs on at&t so you dont even need an unlocked iPhone.

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$200 a phone? more like 450-600. apple does not give subsidies to the carriers.

Two things:

1) He/she is right. It is $449, 549, and 649.

2) I bought a 649 iPhone 5 from Wal Mart for Straight Talk, and it runs on Verizon. What you may be thinking of is the "Bring your own Phone" program, which runs on AT&T and T-Mobile. The one inside Wal-Marts are running Verizon, which I think is better for my area.

 

[Constable Odo]

Apple is....

DOOOOOMMMMEEEED. Everyone on the planet is buying Galaxy S smartphones.

 

[batchtaster]

Made my day, thank you.

 

[kd5jos]

1. Apple is not in this to make money? (i.e., Greed)

No. Greed = Intense and selfish desire for something, esp. wealth, power, or food. Apple is in this to make money != greed. People that want to EARN something are not greedy. It's the ones that expect it for free while not doing anything, those are the greedy bastards.

2. This happens in every industry, all the time, with any disrupting technology. Company A comes out with Product A that takes the market by storm. Company B-Z jumps in on the fun and the competition begins. Of course it's driven by money, what else would it be?

A gross oversimplification. I could say it's driven by demand. As I understand it most economists say that too...

3. Many people disagree with you now about iPhones being the clearly superior product. This may have been true in the past, but the competition has a lot to offer now. Open your eyes and don't be blinded.

And the lot they offer isn't enough for many.

If you get your facts straight you don't have much of a point left.

 

[Junito]

Does their service suck?

Service is not bad, the biggest hurdle is dishing $649 for the phone. Many Americans find it a bitter pill to swallow.