Add Sprint-Nextel to the growing list of U.S. carriers that will offer the iPhone. The carrier is likely to gain the Apple handset by Christmas and it could be a big-seller, one analyst tells investors Wednesday.
The key is Sprint will be the last remaining U.S. carrier with an unlimited data plan after Verizon is expected to go to metered pricing Thursday. Being able to offer an iPhone with an unlimited data plan provides “an attractive proposition for more price-conscious users (a demographic that we think is increasingly important to Apple following the rise of Android), writes Citadel Securities analyst Shing Yin. Additionally, an Apple handset from Sprint could outsell the Verizon iPhone.
“Sprint could capture more than its fair share of iPhone sales, especially if it gets the new model at the same time as AT&T and Verizon,” Yin writes. There is “little reason for Apple to hold back” or for Verizon and AT&T to mount a legal challenge, the analyst concludes.
Adding Sprint to the U.S. mix both gives Apple multiple pricing tiers, but also increases the iPhone’s availability. As we’ve reported, after the iPhone became available from Verizon, new U.S. smartphone purchasers turned to Apple, stalling Android’s growth. With three carriers (possibly four, if you count the AT&T-acquired T-Mobile USA), Apple has a chance to control the domestic market, pushing Android to rely increasingly on foreign sales.
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
14 responses to “Report: Sprint iPhone Will Definitely Happen By Christmas”
I remember having a Sprint-Nextel phone for work. Several times a week, I would get random phone calls from an automated message speaking in Spanish. According to my brother-inlaw who worked at Sprint, they were aware of the issue but had no idea how the solicitors were getting customer phone numbers nor how to stop it from happening. I guess I’d better start learning spanish…
Yeah, Definitely, Probably, Maybe… I think it will drop in September; Definitely, Probably, Maybe!
perhaps…
Here’s where it might get interesting…right now Sprint is offering unlimited everything for $69.99. If they were to use this plan with the iPhone, Sprint might very well take business away from AT&T and Verizon hands down. This would be a major boost for Sprint and hopefully they can help break this insane pricing cycle
yes but even if they have it now it doesn’t mean they will be offering it with the iphone or any phone at that time
As for the rumor I don’t buy it. Sprint is not going LTE like the other boys. I can’t see Apple supporting both LTE and Wimax. Heck even their 3g isn’t the same as Verizon although both are flavors of CDMA
that hasn’t happened in years.
and learning spanish is certainly becoming a necessity in some parts
Sorry, but this article is idiotic. Contrast the title with what the author actually says and you’ll notice there’s a problem:
Title: “Report: Sprint iPhone Will DEFINITELY Happen By Christmas”
Article: “The carrier is LIKELY to gain the Apple handset by Christmas and it could be a big-seller, one analyst tells investors Wednesday.”
IOW: No proof is provided. No verification of proof is provided. And the source ‘analyst’ hedges his statement with the word ‘likely’.
Kids, this is not journalist. This is garbage hit-whoring. For all we know this is a temporary Sprint stock manipulation trick. Total FAIL!