The Pre might have slowed the drain at Sprint but it hasn't managed to turn things around completely -- America's number three carrier posted a second-quarter loss of $384m as it lost another 257,000 subscribers. That just continues Sprint's trend of bleeding customers to the competition, and we doubt this balance sheet will turn around anytime soon -- not only will next quarter reflect the
$483m purchase of Virgin Mobile USA, it's pretty clear that
Verizon will get the Pre and
AT&T will carry another webOS handset, leaving Mr. Hesse and crew without their shiny halo device to lure new subs to the fold. We'll see what Sprint does to turn this all around -- did someone say they
need a Hero?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Riley Freeman @ Jul 29th 2009 11:52AM
hmm why buy sprint when u can just let the customers come on their own lol.
i really wish sprint would say if it was from sprint or from nextel. if it was from nextel thats not so bad seeing as iden is 90s technology (i am a former iden user) it just cant keep pace with everything that in nowadays
junior wizzy @ Jul 29th 2009 11:59AM
if it was from CDMA to iDEN, then Sprints gonna lose the customers anyways...It's definitely just straight switches to other carriers.
It may get worse. The fact that they aren't using the LTE standard might be their demise.....
Breon @ Jul 29th 2009 6:54PM
IDEN isn't as bad as it use to be. Because of Boost Mobile's new $50 unlimited plan they did a $8 million upgrade of the IDEN network so text messaging will run MUCH smoother as well as voice and data
Nav @ Jul 29th 2009 11:54AM
"did someone say they need a Hero?" No, I think they said they need an iphone. lol.
atx1980 @ Jul 29th 2009 12:45PM
I would never buy an iphone.
But that would bring sprint back.
The iphone is great for the average user.
Don Louie @ Jul 29th 2009 11:56AM
The Pre wasn't available for the whole 1st quarter, only the last month of it
HorizonSmoker @ Jul 29th 2009 3:38PM
What don't you understand about the last month of the 1st quarter?.
The last week of the first month isn't the same thing as the entire
month. Don said it pretty clearly, you'd have to be a half-wit not to
get it.
Metro @ Jul 29th 2009 12:02PM
i wonder who those quarter mil customers went to? I don't want to guess that it's AT&T. I don't know that the Hero would help this problem. I have Sprint and love it. Maybe Sprint needs to provide more high-end devices (*cough* SE Rachael), so that even if they continue to bleed customers, at least their revenues would still potentially balance out!
Riley Freeman @ Jul 29th 2009 12:33PM
@wizzy u didnt even understand anything i said.
if it was from iden while sprint is still losing its not so much their fault as nextel's iden technology just being to far behind to maintain interest.
junior wizzy @ Jul 29th 2009 12:47PM
oh........my bad, my reading comprehension goes up and down with every facebook reply I have to make, at the same time
Basilray @ Jul 29th 2009 1:32PM
Why doesn't Sprint get any love? They HAD sub-par Customer Service for a period of time, but with their pricing points and good service in most areas, it just seems like a no-brainer.
The only downfall I can really see is CDMA not being able to support data/voice at the same time.
Jason @ Jul 29th 2009 2:05PM
That's why Verizon is having such a rough go at it.
dudznyc @ Jul 29th 2009 2:23PM
I'm not entirely sure if it is the CDMA technology thats driving people away...because VZW uses the same tech and their "BORING" red company is #1.
now don't get me wrong i don't like CDMA....it doesn't support Data & Voice multi-tasking, nor does it allow you to travel with your phone....hence why they always have to add on the high end "WORLD PHONES" to support GSM technology.
i think the problem with Sprint is (1.) Their horrible customer service. (2.) Their terrible cellular service (3.) Their lack of attracting customers (mainly being their commitement to CDMA instead of evolving their 4G Network through the GSM based LTE technology.)
Sprint might need a miracle ... like an agreement with a certain manufacter that gives them an A-mazing phone with a long exclusivity agreement.
Metro @ Jul 29th 2009 2:52PM
I guess it all depends on where you live. As much as I wanted to get iPhone, i didn't get one because I didn't want to leave Sprint. I can easily how people would abandon ship to get "cooler" phones without having to change their phone numbers. I don't call customer service much, so i don't have much of a problem there.
I do agree that an agreement with a manufacturer for a kick-butt phone would help, but I don't think Sprint is known for expensive/superior phones/plans. Maybe that should change!
Patrick Horne @ Jul 30th 2009 11:20AM
A "quarter" is three months and those three months ended on June 30th. The Pre was only in the fold for about 2 weeks of the reporting period. Asking Palm and the Pre to return Sprint to profitability and market leadership in a couple of weeks might be a bit ambitious.
The impact of WebOS device(s) will not be realized until 3rd quarter reporting at Sprint.
will54880 @ Jul 29th 2009 8:28PM
I just switched to Sprint, and I love the Palm Pre. I hope that Sprint is not soon to become the (where are they) Now network.
Diggi @ Jul 29th 2009 8:50PM
Sprint is going to keep losing more and more, CDMA technology is the reason why. It is NOT because of the actual technology, it is because of the cell phones that are produced for CDMA carriers are far behind GSM cell phones in every aspect. I am honestly shocked Verizon is #1, they are so boring with their red logo and boring commercials, their crippled devices that don't allow you to do anything without paying for it. VERY few phones that are good devices(such as palm pre)come out for a CDMA carriers first. Why do you think apple choose to come out with the iphone for AT&T, probably b/c of the rest of the world uses GSM and they sell the iphone around the world, you can either unlock an AT&T version or buy it from a GSM carrier overseas. Do you think the palm pre for sprint is going to sell around the world? haha no.
PoisonEye @ Jul 29th 2009 9:45PM
It's incredibly easy to re-design a phone from supporting GSM to CDMA and vice versa. Almost as easy as changing from European freqs to US freqs within GSM. Really. The whole problem is the manufacturer has to want to be in the US/Asian market. Otherwise, why bother putting out the cost to manufacture something new? It's easy to design, but it's still a different device, and thus it's expensive to manufacture unless you can make a whole lot of them at once.
As for your last sentence...do you think the Palm Pre for GSM is going to sell around the world? Haha yes. Also, the CDMA iPhone will do well for Sprint and VZW. You know Apple is going to make one, whether it's sooner or later, and it likely won't be exclusive to one carrier for more than 6 months...that whole mass production thing.
Name: @ Jul 29th 2009 9:44PM
Here we ago again with Sprint...
Well, a few things, and I am not going to get in too much depth here.
A: Is going CDMA rather than LTE killing Sprint right now? No. No Sprint clients other than us geeks who comment here even know what the hell LTE and CDMA means. Not to say that's not going to come back and shoot them in the foot in a few years, it will, but at this particular time, no one cares and isn't jumping ship because "Sprint isn't jumping to LTE 3 years from now". Those of you who think the LTE is the reason are idiots and don't deserve to be posting on a site like this.
B: As far as GSM carriers getting "better phones", that I must somewhat agree with.
C: Coverage. Yeah. Sprint isn't the greatest, but it's not too bad either. I actually spent the last 3 weeks toting around some Sprint phones just to see what kind of coverage on average they would get, and I can honestly say that I wasn't as disappointed as what I expected to be.
D: Customer service. Yes. Sprint Customer Service and Tech Support was HORRIBLE back in the day. It has gotten much better compared to 6-12 months ago. One issue with Sprint though are ridiculous "pre-approval" standards that they use. They still act as if they are the premier carrier in the US, and of all the credit apps they receive, over 50% of consumer apps come back as "$200+ deposit required". Get over yourself Sprint. You need to be taking all you can get right now. Thus the reason IMO why they inked the Virgin deal. They are losing a SHITLOAD of money obviously...They need to stop that bleeding. In today's economy, how better than to absorb and try to put on some pre-paid customers rather than post paid.
But let's step back and see why Sprint went from being number one to number none. Bottom line. They fucked their customers years ago, and people don't forgive and forget...They remember. How many of you had Sprint back in the day and started getting screwed on your bills? Mainly, all of a sudden you were getting charged for long distance calls when they were included in your plans. HRM. Once you lose the trust of your clients, its hard as hell, if not IMPOSSIBLE to regain that trust, no matter how hard you try.
There is no way that you can argue that the Simply Everything Plan is the best deal in market right now. Not only for the standards like unlimited calling, text, etc. But the extra "perks" like included Sprint Navigation, Sprint TV (even basic), Sprint Radio, etc.
And don't blame the Sprint downfall on the Nextel merger....Sprint was going downhill way before that.
Sprint needs to drop their ego, and try and take on TMOBILE for clients rather than trying to take on Verizon and AT&T.
Will that happen though? Hell no. Sprint is too arrogant thinking they have no problems. Yes Sprint. You have problems. Not challenges. But P-R-O-B-L-E-M-S
emaildejan @ Jul 29th 2009 10:36PM
Name, I have to say I totally agree with you.
1. Sprint is a bargain basement company that was able to offer (more or less) decent steak in terms of service. Nextel was a premier company that offered the basics brilliantly, and customers paid a pretty penny for it (and Nextel's customer service was 2nd to none pre-merger). Alas, Sprint purchased Nextel and the vast majority of post-paid losses is on the iDEN side (which are not joining up to Sprint's CDMA side) because Sprint is trying to shove "the Sprint way" of doing business (which has NEVER really worked) down Nextel business customers. The end result is post-paid losses left and right...continuously.
2. Customer Service: um...while there has been improvement to Sprint's CS, the reality is that CS is still pathetic at best. Even AT&T's CS is a full order of magnitude better than Sprint's. Nextel had stellar CS, and Sprint execs nixed it because it...get this..."lacked corporate structure" for tracking what customers called into CS for and how things were being resolved.
3. Advertising: Nextel had a simple message since day one: "Nextel| Done." Nextel KNEW it what it was from day one: a business company servicing business customers. Sprint has NO IDEA what it really is. Is it a data company? Maybe. Is it a wireless voice company? Perhaps. Sprint is completely schizophrenic when it comes to figuring out what its message is to the public. As such, the public has turned to everyone except Sprint. Additionally, this company still has no idea what to do with Nextel as a brand. They promote Boost as a pre-paid, but they don't advertise Nextel (and when they do, you never hear the name Nextel ever mentioned) and only promote Sprint. Yet, the CDMA side lost 300+ post-paid customers. Hmmm...lousy branding is a strong reason for this company's piss poor performance.
4. Lousy handsets: Um...this is a given. Nextel may not have ever had the state of the art handsets, but their handsets were fairly flawless. Sprint gets the Instinct, and it's a complete dud. Sprint gets the Pre, and that looks like it's lack luster at best. Then Sprint gives the newest iDEN devices to Boost instead of Nextel. Bad idea. People will simply leave for greener pastures even if it costs them more, simply so that they don't have to deal with the stupidity known as Sprint.
Sprint...slowly killing itself. Ah well...can't wait for my contract to expire so I can go to Verizon.
BTW, side note: CDMA CAN do voice AND data at the same time. For example, the Palm Pre can allow the user to answer a phone AND continue to download a file at the same time. So network multitasking isn't an issue as some have claimed earlier.
Supercop @ Jul 29th 2009 11:41PM
emaildejan: Why would anyone so anxious to join VZ for a crippled phone and higher monthly bills? I don't get it.
LanceTreble @ Aug 6th 2009 2:35AM
I must say that as a sprint customer, I'm much more satisfied with them than I was with verizon. My verizon experience included constant Over-Billing and more over-billing. I haven't been over-billed once since I came to Sprint in December. But, I agree that we could use some better phones. ( Waiting 4 a QWERTY Android device to replace this damn Touch Pro). And as far as service, I would say Verizon's and Sprint's service is around the same here in Cleveland but Sprint's 3G is alot faster
Metro @ Jul 30th 2009 11:04AM
Yep! I upgraded from the Mogul to the Touch Pro, and thought the faster processor would be worth the upgrade, but the phone isn't as consistent as the Mogul! The navigation pad sucks! Trying to navigate home with the home button sometimes works as pressing left! Pressing
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Freeranger @ Aug 6th 2009 4:22PM
SPRINT proof that soap on a rope is still needed