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Sprint getting iPhone 5; ATT/Verizon get 4S

mattwallace24 said:
Sprint had less than $4B cash in the bank as of their last quarterly statement. Assume 50% of Sprint's current contract subscribers (around 30 million users) want to jump on the new iPhone over the next year, Sprint would have to write a check for $10B.

Agree with you on Sprint's debt and payment issues. Forget exclusivity (not going to happen with Sprint), I'm don't even see how Sprint could sign up for this deal with Apple period. I can't see them raising $20B to pay for the phones without increasing rates or dramatically stealing away subscribers from AT&T and Verizon.
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(underlining done by me)
That would require an exclusive deal. I don't see it happening, but if I'm Sprint that's what I'm begging for.

:confused:

Tomorrow should be fun!
 
Smart move by Apple. Sprint will fold, Apple will take over Sprint, and Apple will become a mobile network provider. Take the middle man out of the picture, and control the iPhone from start to finish. From the production line right to being the carrier.
 
curitibagarrett said:
Apple would lose even a bigger market share than they have been losing. This is almost suicide in the mobile market. It took apple over three years before they figured out having an exclusive contract with ATT was bad for business. With apples competitors coming out with some pretty kick ass phones and apple locking the 5 with sprint they would lose the market share even quicker.
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Luckily, the world is larger than the US.
 
darster said:
Smart move by Apple. Sprint will fold, Apple will take over Sprint, and Apple will become a mobile network provider. Take the middle man out of the picture, and control the iPhone from start to finish. From the production line right to being the carrier.
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Terrible idea by this guy. You will get the iPhone without committing 20 billion dollars. I just read that Sprint's stock has dropped 80% since that Hesse guy took over 4 years ago. If it's true, then what darster posted makes sense and say goodby to Sprint.
 
Number 41 said:
Apple doesn't need the money...

...unless Sprint was asking them to make a device (a WiMAX iP5) that they had no intention of making otherwise and demanded up-front cash guarantees from Sprint.
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I don't believe the story mentioned the $20.5B being paid up front. It said the value of the purchase was that much.
 
Savor said:
Just a bunch of sour grape reactions from people who aren't on Sprint and feel bitter seeing the iPhone 5 go to their subscribers first. This is the same bitterness alot of AT&T iPhone owners felt when Verizon was finally getting iPhones last February. Carrier fanboys vs carrier fanboys.

I applaud Sprint if this actually is true tomorrow. Crazy rumor, but an aggressive move by them to bet the farm on iPhones.
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Sour grapes? No. The fact that Sprint has the worst billing and customer service out of any company I've dealt with in my life? Yes. Had them back a few years ago when flip phones were hot **** and I eventually cancelled the service and went over to Cingular. For about a year they kept sending me letters about some $250 phantom bill that they claimed I owed, except for that the bill was stated for months after I cancelled my service. After countless phones calls and 3 letters from an attorney they finally decided to drop their case "out of convenience for them" and made sure in the final letter they sent me to declare me as a deadbeat and a fraud (literally they said I was a customer who was defrauding the company). I've never carried a balance for anything, ever. Credit cards, phone bills, utility bills, car payments all paid in full and on time for my entire life.

Sprint can go to hell for trying to ruin my credit and tarnish my name. That's why I'd never use them ever again, even if the phone and service were free.
 
I went on a brainstorm while I was visiting a more business related site, so I decided to repost my thoughts on Sprint's move here.

Wow! The audacity that Dan Hesse is showing right now is along the lines of what I expected from him when he first became CEO of the company. I understood some things that he did from jump street. Remember, Sprint was the first carrier to drop their Unlimited Service down to $99.99 a month before taxes and extras. However, other things he did were perplexing at best, like attaching Sprint's brand so hard to Samsung's Instinct in 2008; his deal with Palm in 2009 seemed like a kind act to a loyal yet failing friend. As we all know, both of those phones moved a lot of units... and were returned a lot as well.

He even tried with the Evo in 2010, which did better. Unfortunately, that's like comparing a gunshot to being barely grazed. I still don't see that many Evos at the social functions I attend, not as many as the iPhones and Verizon Droids snapping pictures. The iPhone has been Sprint's great white whale, and Dan Hesse has finally thrown everything he has, and he will either succeed in the face of danger, or earn the infamous status of worst CEO in cellular history.

These are exciting times.
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The math is right. Sprint can sell around 8 million iPhones a year. We still haven't hit the saturation mark where every person that is going to get a smartphone will get one. Sprint has excellent customer service in my opinion, and if they can improve the network while keeping smiles on everyone's faces, their competitive pricing and (possible according to BGR) exclusivity on the latest and greatest of Apple's high selling, high rated phone could just be the thing to make Sprint into a bigger player in the mobile space of America. And if it fails... well, everyone talks about going down guns blazing, but few men roll the dice like this.
 
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Somehow I just don't see this happening. Apple isn't stupid enough to make a deal like this, especially with all the carriers around the world that offer the iPhone now. If anything, I'd think the deal would be for Sprint to be allowed to be an official carrier of the iPhone, not an exclusive carrier of the new model.
 
gta50419 said:
yeah it's b.s. No way sprint will be the only one with ip5
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IF. I mean big IF. IF they are the only one, it will be a temporary thing. A few months to get the LTE chip production up to speed. (assuming those rumors are also true)




Funny how everyone went from stressing about a 5 not being released at all to being up in arms at the possibility it may only be with Sprint for a time.
 
After having just sold my iPhone 4 on eBay last night and shipping it out today I must say I will be thoroughly PISSED if this Sprint exclusivity non-sense is somehow true. :mad:
 
Dedicated Assistant button


THAT right there shows the whole thing is Bull Shi#. There is no way they are adding an extra button
 
If I'm not mistaken sprint no longer runs credit checks. I guess that's how they get customers without having the iPhone.
 
WiMax is a deadend technology that will be obsolete in two years. No way Apple puts all its eggs in this technology.
 
Dmunjal said:
WiMax is a deadend technology that will be obsolete in two years. No way Apple puts all its eggs in this technology.
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Can you expand on that? I'm not trying to say you're a liar, I just don't know much about it and would like to learn something.
 
MacDawg said:
I can see Sprint being cut in, but not exclusively
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Maybe it is just marketing. Exclusive "Wi-Max" iPhone 5. However, you can get LTE with Verizon and ATT. BGR is saying that LTE will be available 1st qtr next year. Who knows!
 
Sprint is getting a short exclusivity window in exchange for their massive commitment - so for a short time, yes, the 5 will only be available through them, while everybody else "suffers" with the 4 or 4S a little longer (The Horror, The Horror). Listen, nobody believed it when AT&T got exclusivity either. This stuff happens all the time. T-Crap bet the farm by paying Apple "walk away money", i.e., walk away from some old customers. 20 billion is funny that way.

But... we all know that Apple made a safe bet because (click here)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iY0dNn3ermE&feature=related
 
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