In the news business, it’s called a non-denial denial. For the rest of us, it is just the latest indication we’re just months from having the iPhone 5 available on all major U.S. wireless carriers. Sprint is instructing employees to say “no comment” the latest Apple handset is coming to the carrier this fall.
“If you’re asked by a customer or just talking to friends or family members, you need to avoid making any comment about the iPhone and simple [sic] state “no comment,” according to an alleged memo to dealers leaked to SprintFeed. The recommendation follows a Wall Street Journal report that Sprint will get the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4. The new handset is expected in late September or early October.
Sprint, with 52 million customers, is a distant third from Verizon’s 106 million and second-place AT&T’s 99 million. However, the move could help ease approval of AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile.
In some of the most lame language, the carrier suggests tossing out this stilted statement to beat back any questions: “Yes, I saw a few of those reports. I don’t have any information to share.” Dealers are then instructed to send customers to Sprint’s company Newsroom.
The memo might deter some family and a curious customer or two, but when I see such a line I recall that scene from ‘Airplane’ where dozens of reporters run for a line of phone booths to file their stories.
