Sprint Nextel “reported a wider second-quarter loss than in the previous year,” Dave Kansas reports for Bloomberg.
“Sprint, without an iPhone, is struggling to keep in sight of larger rivals such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T, both of whom are selling mad amounts of the Apple device,” Kansas reports. “While Sprint added 1.1 million net new customers in the quarter, analysts fret about the level of leakage. The company said it lost 101,000 contracts during the quarter. Sprint cited the dreaded iPhone, including very cheap older models of the phone, as a big reason for customer defections.”
Full article here.
“The second-quarter loss widened to $847 million, or 28 cents a share, from $760 million, or 25 cents, a year earlier, the Overland Park, Kansas-based carrier said today. Operating income before depreciation and amortization fell 12 percent to $1.31 billion, missing the $1.48 billion average estimate of analysts compiled by Bloomberg, as client retention costs rose,” Crayton Harrison reports for Bloomberg.
Advertisement: Limited Time: Students, Parents and Faculty save up to $200 on a new Mac.
“Sprint lost 101,000 customers on monthly contracts after dropping 114,000 in the previous three-month period, starting a new losing streak after reporting a gain in the lucrative users in the fourth quarter of 2010 for the first time in more than four years,” Harrison reports. “The carrier is promoting handsets such as HTC Corp.’s Evo to compete with AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, which both now carry Apple Inc.’s iPhone.”
MacDailyNews Take: Knockoffs not cutting it when pitted against the real thing?
Harrison reports, “Sprint was expected to lose 25,000 contract subscribers, according to the average estimate of six analysts compiled by Bloomberg. Verizon, the largest wireless carrier, added 1.3 million contract subscribers last quarter, luring customers with the iPhone and its new high-speed network, called 4G. AT&T, the second-biggest carrier, pulled in 331,000 contract customers.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iCal’s bouncing with a couple of rather perceptive quotes:
Apple’s “iPhone” isn’t really a phone at all. It’s really a small touchscreen Mac OS X computer, a Mac nano tablet, if you will. Here’s how misnamed the iPhone is: Some people are complaining that Jobs didn’t spend enough time on the Mac in his keynote! Folks, iPhone is not only a Mac, it’s the most radical new Mac in years! What’s to stop Apple from making a 12-inch model (and larger, and smaller) one of these days… and calling it a Mac tablet?
…The main thing about the “iPhone” is that it’s really a pocket Mac. It has email, SMS, full-featured Web browsing, and much more. But, beyond that, it is a platform that’s just sitting there waiting for Apple to sell software for it. Just imagine games with the large multi-touch display and the built-in accelerometer! – SteveJack, MacDailyNews, January 9, 2007
The mobile-phone supply chain is a highly complex machine with countless moving parts, including phone makers, component suppliers, telecom carriers, government agencies and infinitely fickle consumers. Well, Apple just blew the whole damn thing up with its new iPhone. – Michael Comeau, Real Money, January 11, 2007
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
So they added 1.1 million customers in a saturated market… that’s sound excellent to me.
“sounds”
Jeez and Crackers . . . Sprint LOST over $847,000,000 last quarter, market share be damned! How does that sound “excellent” to you? (Are you a member of Congress, perhaps?)
If they added 1.1 million customers and are bleeding money, that sounds an issue the white shirts have to solve. Are they selling each month’s service at a loss?
If Sprint is only able to barely maintain market share by hemorrhaging money by peddling non-iPhones with cut-rate contracts to attract customers, then the company is definitely in trouble. A “bag of hurt,” as SJ might say.
That is why I am against the acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T. That would effectively leave only two real players in the U.S. cellular market.
which is why the Nielsen report MDN carried is full of BS.
VZ and att both reported that the iPhone walloped the java phones 2 to 1. Yet java phones increased more than the iPhone in the nielsen fairytale.
What faerie tale are you reading to us? What are these ‘java phones’ you speak of?
read MDN thread on Nielsen earlier today.
As for the java phones, ask Ellison of oracle. He will be collecting very soon.
What are you talking about? You need to read that article again.
It said, Apple had 28% share, it’s nearest Android rival, HTC had 14%. That in no way implies all of Android, just the Android phones HTC sold.
Read it yourself.
The claim is that java phones increased 1 percent in market share just as IOS did. Since it is claimed that the pseudo-java OS had a larger base in the previous fantasy survey, in nominal terms the pseudo-javas had a bigger unit number increase. Yet VZ and Att said that activations were 2 to 1 in IOS favor. SPRINT has lost share, so how in the world did the pseudo-javas come up to par (in percentage) with the IOS? Of course it is a fantasy survey.
Well, Sprint lost 101,000 postpaid accts, but seem to have gained about 1.2M prepaid accts. So, while iOS activations are growing faster on Verizon and AT&T, they can still be in parity with Android if a lot of those prepaid Sprint accts are Android.
Further, that Nielsen survey was current MARKET SHARE, not last quarter’s sales.
correct me if I am wrong, but the survey was for the three month period, april-june. They were comparing it to the three month period march-may.
Sprint would struggle if it had black, white, pink and purple iPhones. It’s the network stupid and coverage. You can’t just cover the major interstate corridors and expect to be considered a national cell phone company. Folks want coverage once they’ve exited the interstate.
Rogers just covers the cities, towns and major highways and it is the leading cell phone company in Canada. Damn cherry pickers.
“People” want coverage that suits their needs. I used Sprint in the mid- to late-1990s and it worked well for me in most locations. One of the notable places that Sprint coverage sucked was my home in Houston. That is why I switched. But the call quality was excellent. The lack of additional roaming charges was great (unlike the roaming fees that Cingular slapped me with on a vacation in Minnesota). And the plan was cost-competitive.
Sprint’s biggest problem at the moment is that their cellular technology is different from the rest, which means no iPhone.
Sprint have perennially treated their customers as crap. No surprise that they continue to FAIL. Theoretically, a takeover could turn them around. But it would require stripping out and replacing their self-destructive work culture. Good luck with that.
The mobile phone business requires as much competition as possible. I am no fan of the T-Mobile/AT&T merger. I am no fan of companies dropping out of the market. But I would gladly help tip Sprint into the grave. Call me. I’ll bring my own shovel.
Sprint’s 4G is provided by Clear (nee Clearwire), another company known for their craptastic service and product, over promising and under delivering. That, and coverage that makes Sprint look great.
In the cellular industry, being treated like crap is commonplace. That also applies to the cable/satellite TV industry, residential utility companies (in general), and the list goes on. You obviously had a bad experience with Sprint. I had a bad experience with AT&T. Others feel that way about Verizon. The grass is seldom greener.
The iPhone on Sprint would be kickass given that they’re the only carrier with a truly unlimited everything plan.
This is precisely Sprint’s problem. They’ve added users but bleeding cash. They can’t afford to keep their unlimited/unlimited plans. They have them now b/c they don’t have the iPhone to fight off the lose of high valued contracted customers.
You got it. Sprint is buying customers at a loss. That is not viable long term. My sister-in-law saw a lot of people getting laid off by Sprint and was savvy enough to chart her own path out the door before the impending collapse.
Title of MDN post should read, “Sprint struggling without Apple’s revolutionary iPhone AND having T-Mobile as a separate competitor”
I guess now that idiot Franken doesn’t ave to worry about one less mobile carrier stiffling competitiveness!
You’re an idiot if you think Franken is an idiot. Over your head? out of your league?
I wish AT & T had the customer service Sprint has. And no one’s is worse than Verizon’s. Steve Jobs had it right in the beginning when he said we all hate out phones. We all hate our carriers.
But I thought that everyone wanted the more advanced Android smartphones with huge screens, 4G and Flash support.
We do and that’s what we’re buying. Just look at the numbers released today. Twice as many Androids are being sold as the rotten apple.
I wonder if Jobs shouldn’t change the company name to sour grapes? Would be more fitting.
Hey MDN. I look forward to you creating a new site dedicated to iCal’d pearls of stupidity by the experts vs the wisdom of the ‘SteveJacks’ out there. Any thoughts on this?
Sprint is currently the only major carrier that operates FOUR carrier brands. In addition to ‘Sprint-Nextel’ brand, Sprint is selling cheap phones under the ‘Virgin Mobile’, ‘Boost’ and ‘Assurance Wireless’ brands. These three are cheap, no-contract pre-paid carrier brands, with a limited selection of bottom-end cheap phones, including some Android devices. Even with the rising popularity of these plans (in this crappy economy), and four distinct carrier brands to compete with the others, Sprint continues its losing streak. And it is not alone there; T-Mobile is practically in the same predicament, hemorrhaging subscribers every quarter. Can anyone guess what is the common thread between these two…?
I’d buy an iPhone on Sprint. I’d be willing to bet their sweet plans would quickly go away once iPhones started populating their network.
One thing keeps getting tossed around in the articles about older iPhone models. They keep talking about “cheap” older iPhones, compared to other competing devices.
This is a false comparison. On pre-paid carriers and plans, you can buy an unsubsidised new Android device for as little as $80 (Huawei M835, back-to-school promotional full price, no commitment or subsidy). New iPhone 3GS is NOT available at full price (unsubsidised), but iPhone 4 is, and it sells for $650. Even if AT&T were to offer 3GS for free with contract, it would still mean that the actual retail price of that 3GS was $450 (the subsidy part, paid over the life of a 2-year contract).
Even the cheapest iPhone out there is more expensive than the most expensive Androids offered on pre-paid no-contract, no-subsidy carriers ($300 for Samsung Galaxy or Indulge on MetroPCS, Motorola Triumph on Virgin Mobile).
$250 @ Apple Store will get you a 3GS unlocked.
Lightsquared announced a LTE deal with Sprint today. May be a game changer giving them nationwide LTE service for distribution. With a national network Apple might be interested. Also Apple could private label the service giving them a seamless environment.
I left Sprint for my first iPhone.
Sprint should get the iPhone by the end of the year.
THEN it will be all about the carrier. The quality of their signal and the affordability of their data plan.
Did I just use the word “affordability” when talking about phone carriers?
Buy Sprint.