How does that saying go? For every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction, right? Well, to that end, Sprint seems to be the "equal and opposite reaction" to
AT&T's and
Verizon's actions, posting a net subscriber loss and a stable ARPU at a time when its competitors are posting huge net adds and rising ARPUs. Year over year, The Now Network has hemorrhaged 2.1 million customers, 901,000 of whom bolted in this quarter alone in a $344 million vat of red ink; what's worse, it says losses will increase in the next due to a "seasonal uptick in churn." That doesn't really compute, unless Sprint is actively suggesting that people are more likely to leave its network in the third quarter of the year -- but we obviously understand the need to come up with interesting and creative excuses for bad news when it comes to an ugly earnings report. Any way you slice it, the big boys seem to be eating Sprint's lunch at the moment without a clear-cut path to turning the tables. The silver lining, we guess, is that analysts had expected 906,000 customers to bolt, a full 5,000 more than actually left -- but unless those 5,000 are each holding $1 million-per-month accounts, there's not much of a diff there.
[Via
mocoNews]
posted August 7th 2008 4:02AM
I'm sorry I can't let this go......... Is that a rendering of Palm OS on a Motorola RAZR, a Cingular keypad (notice the "send" icon), and a craptacular photoshopped Sprint logo? Could we not find any stock images that could be used, or is this just a crafty inside joke?
lmao. Good call!
That was the first thing I noticed too!!!! palm OS, GSM phone, sprint logo, lol lol
+1....
Cingular branded MOTO RAZR v3 = FREE* with 2 year contract
Palm OS on MOTO RAZR v3 = 1337 h4x0r
Badly photoshopped Sprint logo on MOTO RAZR v3 = priceless
it's an inside joke... last year sprint put up a promo of the moto q shopped with palm os by mistake.
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2007/11/10/motorola-prepping-palm-os-based-q2-for-sprint/
WIN!
Oh yeah um i forgot: woot first comment. I read in the technoblog commentors manual that you are supposed to get excited that you just happened to read an article first and comment on it or something. I gotta say it does feel a little life-changing. My next feat will be to ramble on for what would normally be 3 paragraphs but use no punctuation and all caps. I'm learning.
I've been saying, Sprint should have advertised the hell out of their SERO plans. I don't see how anyone can turn down those plans unless Sprint just doesn't have service in your area.
They got rid of those plans now and they are just continuing to screw themselves. As long as I have my SERO plan, I'll be sticking with Sprint.
If they had advertised the hell out of those plans, they would have been out of business a long time ago.
Count me in as one of their losses last quarter.
And even as I'm trying to cancel my account, it never ceases to amaze me how terrible Sprint's customer service is. I'll certainly miss my SERO plan, but I won't miss Sprint at all.
"How does that saying go?"
I don't think that's a "saying"; it's a law of physics. But yeah, you got it right.
"That doesn't really compute, unless Sprint is actively suggesting that people are more likely to leave its network in the third quarter of the year -- but we obviously understand the need to come up with interesting and creative excuses for bad news when it comes to an ugly earnings report."
That is exactly what they're suggesting, and it's a common thing -- that isn't a "creative excuse", that's honesty. There is not a constant stream of subscribers and defectors through each quarter in any business, not just wireless telecoms, and not just Sprint.
Oh, it's a law of physics! Awesome, thanks.
The more you know!
Bye Sprint. When the Bold, Xperia and Pro come out, I'll be making my move soon!
I hate to break it to ya, but the Xperia is NEVER actually going to come out
I love that I have seen Sprint fanboys all over the interwebs shouting how much better Sprint did compared to what analysts suggested. Only losing 901,000 customers instead of 906,000... that IS a huge deal. I mean, Sprint showed those analysts by beating their pedictions by more than 0.005%?!
And the foreseen "uptick in churn" is due to the fact that Sprint knows they have a larger number of people coming to end of contract in Q3 than they did in Q2. They will continue to lose customers quarter after quarter as contracts end.
I'm not exactly a fanboy as I think they have plenty to work on but I am a fan of the service. Fastest 3G out there for $15/month unlimited. I could care less about the customer service I've called three times in five years. None of the other major providers even comes close in bang for buck as far as I can see. I'm sad to see them doing so poorly. I would rather see them do well and improve the things about the company that suck rather than just do poorly. I don't look forward to having to switch to expensive-ass VZW or expensive-ass, illegal wiretapping ATT.
I've got no problems with Sprint. Their phone selections are getting better but at a snails pace. As long as I don't have to deal with their customer service, all is well (and i usually don't have to deal with them). I've been with them for 10+ yrs. I'm not going anywhere. I'm still waiting for the HTC Diamond and Pro. Should be out this month.
I have also been with Sprint with 10+ years and never had any issues.
Their customer service has also been great to me, but I usually call retentions when I need help because I know they can get stuff done.
Their phones were not the greatest, but they have been beating VZ to the punch lately and their phones have gotten a lot better !
With SERO there is no way that I am going anywhere, and I hate to see Sprint suffer... I think they are a great company that has made a few bad choices and needs to find a way to recover... I feel that they are trying !