Sprint took a huge hit when it brought on the iPhone. While Apple’s smartphone has undoubtedly been a godsend for the smaller carrier, Sprint signed on to pay over $15 billion in iPhone subsidies over the next four years. Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse even took a $3.25 million pay cut to appease shareholders after his company agreed to the pricey iPhone deal with Apple. You’d think that Hesse would be a little peeved.
He’s not. On the contrary, Hesse reiterated today that he believes Sprint’s iPhone customers will become its most profitable subscribers. The only catch is that Sprint won’t make money on the iPhone until at least 2015.
“We’re very happy with it,” Hesse said of Sprint’s deal with Apple, during the company’s annual shareholders meeting Tuesday. “Carrying the iPhone will be quite profitable.”
“We believe in the long term,” Hesse said. “And over time we will make more money on iPhone customers than we will on other customers.”
Finally, a carrier that makes sense.
Hesse said back in March that Sprint subscribers who own iPhones are likely to be the most loyal. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, Sprint plans to offer unlimited data even when the iPhone gets LTE data speeds. Sprint is actively working on deploying its LTE network by 2013, and Apple is expected to introduce a 4G iPhone later this year.
Source: AllThingsD
Alex Heath is a journalist who works for Tech Insider. He’s the former co-host of The CultCast. He has been quoted by the likes of the BBC, KRON 4 News, and books like “ICONIC: A Photographic Tribute to Apple Innovation.” He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. If you want to pitch a story, share a tip, or just get in touch, additional contact information is available on his personal site. Follow him on Twitter.
3 responses to “Sprint: iPhone Owners Will Eventually Make Us The Most Money”
Having used AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint with an iPhone I can say Sprint has the worst iPhone experience. Speeds are worse than dial up and there isn’t any end in sight to this. Numerous calls to Sprint resulted in no help whatsoever.
The reason why people buy Sprint iPhone’s is because there really isn’t any bill-shock. Every month you pay $70…..and that’s it. You get unlimited calling (to all mobile numbers), texting, and data for seventy bucks. I pay about $92 on AT&T and I only have 2GB of data, 450 mins anywhere, and unlimited texting. My speeds may be faster, but I pay a lot more over a 2-year period.
You get what you pay for. With Sprint, it’s unlimited but slow and with AT&T/VZW it’s fast but expensive