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hmmm, sprint iPhone?

B

brendu

Cancelled
Original poster
Apr 23, 2009
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Sprint Raising 3G data rates on new phones by $10

Possibly in preparation for the influx of customers they expect due to the addition of the iPhone to their lineup... Just speculation yes but think about it... Sprint is losing customers, the CDMA iPhone is not exclusive to Verizon, and they [Sprint] could easily get away with charging $79.99 for unlimited everything with an iPhone, it is still very competitive. Thoughts?
 
Ok, so it seems we're going to see a sprint iPhone every time Sprint makes a change to its plans?

The iPhone is NOT coming to sprint any time soon. Apple's going to see how the CDMA phone performs on VZW before it addressing any other carrier additions.
 
I have friends who work all over Sprint's headquarters.

The iPhone is not coming to Sprint. The motivation behind the price increase is they feel their network is as every bit as good as Verizon's and AT&T's and they don't want to be the "value" carrier anymore. While they have made strides of improvements to their network and their customer service they still have the reputation of a value network with a poor customer service record. That and they are beginning to have a cash flow problem which is perhaps the biggest reason for the increase.

Bottom line is wireless data is expensive for these companies, all of them. We have seen price increases or caps from every major cellular company except Verizon and for all we know we might see it come from them since they have yet to announce officially what the rate plans for the iPhone will be.
 
I don't see Apple giving the iPhone to Sprint this close to giving it to Verizon.

I eagerly await the announcements of agreement with CDMA carriers in India and China.
 
At Verizon's announcement, the question of exclusivity was asked directly. The response was clear... "This is a multi year non exclusive contract." This means there are no contractual hurdles to a Sprint iPhone and it only depends on Apple feeling the need to be on "every US carrier".

I expect a Sprint CDMA iPhone and a Tmo GSM iPhone to come out later this year. Perhaps they will come out in the summer with iPhone 5. One thing a Verizon rep told me is that the Verizon iPhone is not global, despite the fact Apple is using a chipset that can support GSM and CDMA. I expect a refresh within the year to bring global capabilities to Verizon's iPhone. Once a global iPhone is out, I'm sure Apple will take steps to certify it on every US carrier.

It is in Apple's best interest to have one phone model to support so I expect this non-global VZW CDMA version to be relatively short lived by iPhone life cycle standards. Once they have such a model, it is simply a matter of letting each carrier test it. This is why I say I expect Tmo and Sprint to have an iPhone sooner rather than later.
 
Considering they (all carriers) are making a killing off of SMS text messaging I don't see why they keep increasing prices.

It's all about business in the end.
 
thetexan said:
I have friends who work all over Sprint's headquarters.

The iPhone is not coming to Sprint. The motivation behind the price increase is they feel their network is as every bit as good as Verizon's and AT&T's and they don't want to be the "value" carrier anymore. While they have made strides of improvements to their network and their customer service they still have the reputation of a value network with a poor customer service record. That and they are beginning to have a cash flow problem which is perhaps the biggest reason for the increase.

Bottom line is wireless data is expensive for these companies, all of them. We have seen price increases or caps from every major cellular company except Verizon and for all we know we might see it come from them since they have yet to announce officially what the rate plans for the iPhone will be.
Click to expand...

Screw that. People won't be inclined to switch to Sprint if they make the prices higher. If they are going to price it the same as AT&T or Verizon, then they lose. Most people would take AT&T or Verizon over Sprint even if they have the same pricing.
 
rdowns said:
I don't see Apple giving the iPhone to Sprint this close to giving it to Verizon.

I eagerly await the announcements of agreement with CDMA carriers in India and China.
Click to expand...

While I don't think Sprint is getting iPhone yet, it doesn't really matter what they do at this point. Can you have "exclusivity" with someone (Verizon) when another carrier already has it. I doubt they made a deal with VZW that said no new carries for X amount of time, right? I do see it possible though, that we see iPhone 6 (provided iPhone 5 launches this year) open up on all networks in 2012. Not saying it's going to happen or even likely, but I could see it happening.
 
Verizon=93 million users.
AT&T=91 million users.
Sprint=49 million users.
T-mobile=33 million users.

If I were apple, I would focus on Verizon iphone and next iphone. More carriers are always good thing, but Sprint is not that big of a carrier compare to VZ and AT&T.
 
This raise in price reminds me of a story I heard about a vineyard that raised their prices. They doubled the price and sales actually increased due to the perceived value of wine increasing.

Strange how human's think sometimes.
 
hcho3 said:
Verizon=93 million users.
AT&T=91 million users.
Sprint=49 million users.
T-mobile=33 million users.

If I were apple, I would focus on Verizon iphone and next iphone. More carriers are always good thing, but Sprint is not that big of a carrier compare to VZ and AT&T.
Click to expand...

49 million is a big number and so is T-mo's 33 million. That's a lot more money in Apples pocket.
 
Alaerian said:
This thread is new and different ...

Seriously, can we cut the crap with the "OMG IS <xxxxx> GETTING THE IPHONE NAO BECAUSE SOMETHING INCONSEQUENTIAL AND UNRELATED HAPPENED????" ?
Click to expand...

Actually, he posted good reasoning to back up his question. While we can most likely assume it's not going to happen, the $10 price increase brings motive to wonder. How about we "cut the crap" with people (like you) trying to be thread police and being overly dramatic.
 
Apollo 13 said:
49 million is a big number and so is T-mo's 33 million. That's a lot more money in Apples pocket.
Click to expand...

I never said 49 million and 33 million were small numbers. I only said, I would focus on Verizon first and then maybe think about bringing the iphone to other carriers. AT&T and Verizon are all going LTE network forward, so it's easier for apple to focus on them and move forward. Others are not going LTE yet and they are using wimax and HSPA+ networks. Sure, apple can spend money and resources on T-mobile and Sprint, but I would focus more on AT&T and Verizon.
 
Alaerian said:
This thread is new and different ...

Seriously, can we cut the crap with the "OMG IS <xxxxx> GETTING THE IPHONE NAO BECAUSE SOMETHING INCONSEQUENTIAL AND UNRELATED HAPPENED????" ?
Click to expand...

Wow, this post is new and different....:rolleyes:
 
The rate increase probably also has to do with their "industry first" event on Feb 7th.

I'm guessing Sprint WILL get the iPhone but it all depends on where their 4G is going, and how their churn looks after the Verizon iPhone comes out.

Apple wants a portion of their customers, sure, but they're another 4G technology. I really doubt Apple wants to build have to deal with ANOTHER 4G redesign, and they're not going to open the doors to a carrier they can't keep going forward tech wise with.

They're going to sit back and see how the ATT/Verizon networks look like end of 2011 and go from there. They're not going to give Sprint the iPhone if they have drastic customer drops (unlikely, but still) or their Wimax requires another redesign after they end up building the CDMA/GSM 4G versions for 2012 release. If they can't work it into those designs they may stand back because it may not be worth it in the long run.

They wont go w/ a carrier they can't move forward on design wise, and one of the reasons that there isn't a LTE iPhone being released next month is they already didn't want to do a complete overhaul.

So sit back, enjoy 2011 and into summer 2012 and go from there.
 
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