instinct

Sprint to carry Samsung haptics phone - Rumor Mill Roundup

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 15:46:49 -0500

Verdict: RIGHT

Why it went right: The word in January was that Samsung was releasing a touchscreen phone in Europe called the F490--a 5 megapixel camera-toting device running for about $700. The real news was that Sprint Nextel was going to launch a very similar CDMA/EV-DO phone with haptic feedback in the United States sometime in the second quarter of 2008. Leaked photos at the time, originally from the website Mobiledia, revealed a phone that looked a whole lot like the Samsung Instinct. The phone, in fact, turned out to be just that. Sprint launched the phone just before the start of the summer, and a few days later, when Sprint was trumpeting the phone's sales, it made sure to note its haptic feedback capability.

For more see - Sprint to carry Samsung haptics phone

Holiday Handset Guide Slideshow - Giving the gift of wireless, Part II

Phil Goldstein — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:30:25 -0500

FierceWireless compiled this guide to holiday handsets that U.S. operators will be featuring during the upcoming buying season. In the second part of this two-part series, we look the high-end handsets. Article; Slideshow

iPhone downside: short battery life, dropped calls

Sue Marek — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:15:03 -0400

A recent spate of news reports indicates that not all iPhone 3G customers are happy with their experience. Although the phone has been lauded for its faster Internet speeds and its downloadable apps, some consumers say that the device's battery consumption is too high as is the rate of dropped calls.

AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel says that Apple and AT&T are working to ensure users have a great experience with the iPhone 3G and the device has not been a tremendous source of complaints.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with JupiterResearch, says that the iPhone 3G's struggles are due to its popularity. A large number of new users can degrade the wireless service and 3G access, and downloadable applications can cause users to run down their batteries faster than they would on other phones.

For more:
- see this article

Related articles:
iPhone 3G vs. Instinct - July News Round Up
App Store downloads exceed 60 million in first month

Sprint customers continue to flee, base drops to 51.9M

Sue Marek — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:28:53 -0400

Sprint Nextel disappointed investors once again with some less-than-stellar second quarter results. In particular, the company continues to lose customers at a rapid rate--it lost 901,000 customers in second quarter, giving it a total of 51.9 million customers, compared with 54 million the end of the same quarter last year. On the revenue front, the operator had a second-quarter net loss of $344 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of $19 million. Revenue fell 11 percent to $9.06 billion. Wireless revenue was $7 billion, also a decline of 11 percent year over year.

In a call with financial analysts and investors this morning, Sprint executives tried to mitigate the damages by singing the praises of the company's "Simply Everything" unlimited voice and data plan and the introduction of Samsung's Instinct smart phone. CEO Dan Hesse repeatedly talked about how Simply Everything is encouraging stabilization among its customer base and has performed better than expected. In addition, he talked at length about how the Samsung Instinct is driving more data usage among customers.

Sprint also said it plans to make an offering of $3 billion in cumulative perpetual convertible preferred stock but executives wouldn't go into any details on that offering. Last month Sprint agreed to sell almost all of its towers to private tower company TowerCo for about $670 million in cash. The company planned to use the proceeds to pay off debt.

Here's a rundown of the key metrics:

Churn: Postpaid churn was 2 percent, which is an improvement but still far higher than its competitors. Verizon had a postpaid churn of 0.83 percent while AT&T had a postpaid churn of 1.1 percent. Boost Mobile churn was 7.4 percent, compared with 9.9 percent in the first quarter.

Subscribers: The company lost 901,000 customers, 776,000 of those were postpaid and 250,000 were prepaid. At the end of the quarter, the company had 38.9 million postpaid subscribers, 4.2 million prepaid subscribers and 8.7 million wholesale and affiliate customers. iDEN customers totaled 14.6 million, while 1.7 million were PowerSource customers who use both CDMA and iDEN. The carrier had 35.5 million CDMA customers.

ARPU: Postpaid ARPU was $56 per month. Data contributed $12 to ARPU. CDMA data ARPU was $15 per month, an increase of nearly $1 over first quarter.

For more:
- see this release

Related articles:
Sprint stumbles again despite data growth
Sprint sells off towers to pay down debt

iPhone 3G vs. Instinct - July News Round Up

Mike Dolan — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:54:45 -0400

Here's a review of some of last month's not-to-be-missed coverage regarding the iPhone 3G launch and its prime competitor, the Samsung Instinct.

iPhone vs. Instinct

Despite some new features and faster internet speeds, the iPhone 3G saw less fanfare than its predecessor. Sprint tried to capitalize on the iPhone 3G buzz with a marketing push for its Samsung Instinct 3G device with touch interface that proved popular. How do you think the Instinct and the iPhone 3G fared? Post your comments below.

Best Buy says Instinct breaking sales records

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 12:29:06 -0400

While the iPhone 3G takes up the bulk of news on the web today, Best Buy is revealing that Samsung's Instinct is a best-seller for the electronics retailer.

A spokesman told Wireless Week that the touchscreen device, which runs on Sprint's network, has sold better than any other phone the company has carried since the Motorola Razr launched two years ago. Best Buy didn't give out any specific figures but said Sprint's device offered up "record sales" in the first two weeks.

For more:
- read Wireless Week

Related stories:
Sprint drops price of new Instinct
Sprint says Instinct breaking sales records

Sprint's marketing dollars aren't delivering

Sue Marek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:11:31 -0400

Although Sprint seems to be experiencing some success from its recent launch of the Samsung Instinct, the firm's increased investment in marketing doesn't seem to be paying off. Sprint increased its 2007 ad spend by almost 5 percent to $1.313 billion, yet the firm's market share still slipped by 1.7 percent to 21.1 percent of the 255.4 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. Article

Sprint on an upswing?

Sue Marek — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:04:39 -0400

Competitors are starting to notice an upswing in Sprint's business. The Wall Street Journal reports that Verizon President Denny Strigl told investors that Sprint's performance has improved over the past 30 days. Although Strigl said that the improvements haven't impacted Verizon, his remarks are making people take notice of the beleaguered operator. Sprint's stock jumped 13 percent last week after word of Strigl's comments circulated.

As we reported last week, Sprint says it's new Samsung Instinct device, which launched June 20, has experienced traction in the market. Sprint says sales of Instinct are strong and research firm Pali Research called 100 Sprint stores across the country to check on availability of Sprint's new Samsung Instinct phone and found the claims to be true.

However, analysts are still cautious on the company, which many say will continue to face stiff competition from AT&T and Verizon Wireless. In addition, rumors are still circulating that Deutsche Telekom is considering making an offer for the firm.

For more:
-read this WSJ article (sub. req.)
- see this video of the 'Sell Out' marketing campaign

Related stories:
Are Sprint's claims about Instinct true?
Sprint says Instinct is breaking sales records

Sprint says Instinct is breaking sales records

Sue Marek — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:15:07 -0400

Sprint says demand is high for its new Samsung Instinct touchscreen EVDO device. The phone, which first became available to Sprint customers June 19 and available to all customers on June 20, is breaking sales records. Sales are so strong, in fact, that the carrier has sold more Instinct handsets in its first week than any other EVDO device, breaking pre-existing sales records. The strong sales have led to some temporary shortages at some store locations.

Of course, Sprint's marketing machine has been in overdrive promoting the phone, which retails for $129 with a two-year contract and a $100 mail-in rebate. The carrier is offering bloggers $20 to promote the phone in their blogs.

For more:
- see this press release

Related stories:
Sprint drops price of new Instinct
Can Sprint make a cheaper iPhone?

Sprint to offer business email access on non-PDA phones

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:43:15 -0400

Sprint announced plans to offer business email access on non-PDA phones. As an extension of the Sprint Mobile Email application, the new Sprint Mobile Email Work feature will enable customers to access their Microsoft Exchange Server and IBM Lotus Notes accounts. The new service will become available tomorrow on the Instinct, which is also going on sale tomorrow, and in the coming weeks on 11 more devices, including the LG Rumor, Katana phones from Sanyo and the Motorola RAZR and KRZR phones.

Powered by Seven, the new service features a one-time setup process. In the Instinct, the Sprint Mobile Email Work is preloaded. Emails are pushed to the user's phone as they arrive on their desktop mailbox. The service is available at no extra charge for those who have subscribed to Sprint's Everything plans. With all other plans, the email service costs an extra $10 per month in addition to voice and data charges. Will business users bite?

For more:
- read this release

Related story:
Samsung Instinct Photo Slideshow
Study: 30% of mobile workers on first smartphone. Smartphone story

Sprint drops price of new Instinct

Lynnette Luna — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:54:02 -0400

Sprint is debuting its iPhone-killer smartphone, the new Samsung Instinct, at a cheaper price than previously announced to counteract AT&T's plan to subsidize the 3G version of the iPhone. Sprint announced the Instinct will cost $130 with a $100 rebate and a two-year contract instead of $200 it announced earlier this month. The Instinct will go on sale tomorrow. AT&T is subsidizing the iPhone 3G for $200 for the 8GB version.

There may be a cost difference between the phones but the pricing plans will be about the same. Sprint customers who purchase the Instinct must also purchase a pricing plan offering unlimited data. Those plans start at $70 per month. AT&T requires a voice plan for about $40 and a minimum $30-per month data plan, up from $20 for the original iPhone.

For more:
- check out this release
- check out this Instinct slideshow

Related stories:
Sprint's Instinct will cost $199.99. Instinct story
AT&T lists 3G iPhone upgrade guidelines. iPhone 3G story

Sprint's iPhone killer to debut June 20

Sue Marek — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:02:09 -0400

The rumors are true. Sprint confirmed that it will debut the Samsung Instinct on June 20. The phone, which has been pegged as the carrier's answer to the iPhone, is expected to cost between $200 and $300 and will be available initially to Sprint's "Simply Everything" rate plan customers.

The EV-DO Rev. A phone features a camera, video camera, music player and a turn-by-turn navigation. It comes with a touchscreen and has Web browsing capabilities. Click here to check out pictures of the Instinct.

For more:
-See this story

Related stories:
Sprint's iPhone-killer: Hardly a killer Instinct? See this Instinct editor's corner.
Sprint Wireless Toolkit 3.3 debuts. See this Samsung Instinct piece.