Sprint fires employee who leaked weak EVO 4G sales numbers
By Vlad Savov 
posted June 14th 2010 7:14PM
posted June 14th 2010 7:14PM
You know the backstory by now: Sprint boasted that the EVO 4G was its fastest selling phone ever a couple of days after hitting the American market, before abruptly correcting itself and admitting that the EVO's sales were in fact in line with those achieved by the Pre last summer. What you, and we, didn't know till now, however, is that Sprint's self-correction was sparked off by an employee with a curious mind and posting privileges over on the xda-developers forum. On June 6, according to MobileCrunch, this unnamed hero of truthiness browsed Sprint's internal inventory system and nailed down a figure of 65,500 sold units from Sprint's own stores -- a stat far south from what Sprint would announce a day later. That number ultimately found its way onto the message board, and though it obviously shouldn't be taken as authoritative (or exhaustive), it was enough to get Sprint to hit the auto-correct button and part ways with the activist member of staff. Harsh.[Thanks, Carol]
Just more flamebait for the Android haters.
To each his own. I'm starting to learn to ignore the immaturity in the Engadget comment section.
@Engadget: So even 65,000 through just the Sprint stores seems pretty good if you consider that they haven't included any of the third party retailers that sold the phone with an instant rebate. Also, I'm not sure if that includes phones that were sold through Sprint's hotline directly (which was how I got mine).
There are other sales figures that haven't even been factored in to this equation that doesn't really make this as cut and dry as everyone wants to believe it is. If we assume that its third party retailers made at least the same amount as the Sprint stores themselves, then we're already averaging at close to 150,000.
Yes, you're free to use whatever Steve Jobs says you can. Vive la freedom!
NOKIA N8 FTW !!!
Really who cares just means high-school girls, grandmas and soccer moms won't have my phone what's the big deal.
Oh and I can't wait to see if Engadget reports any problem with the iPhone 4 and yall still paying out the ass for at&t
That's a horrible number, I hope for the sake of future arguments this isn't true lol.. Otherwise it will be too easy lmao
It's bad enough that the comments on this site are bad, but this is the worst reporting I've ever seen by Engadget. From reading this on other sites, I know that several points here are wrong.
1) This guy was in no way a consumer advocate or a hero. He posted those numbers before Sprint had said anything about sales. It was solely some d-bag trying to make a bunch of forum members jealous of him. Sprint might be stupid for messing up the numbers, but Engadget doesn't even realize that the article THEY LINK ON THEIR OWN SITE is dated June 7th, and the article says he posted details on June 6th.
2) Since it was before any sales numbers were released, it in no way caused Sprint to restate anything. They - barring any evidence at all - offered the correction on their own.
3) EVO sales were NOT "in line" with Pre or Instinct sales. Initially they said EVO sales were 3x the sales of Instinct and Pre combined (something like that). Later they corrected that and said that EVO sales on day one were as good as Pre or Instinct sales for the first THREE days. It was pathetic they got this wrong in the article they wrote at the time, but it is inexcusable that they didn't even figure it out by now.
@WrlsFanatic
I wish people would read your comment. This is exactly what I keep seeing. Sprint put out a shitty press release using the THREE multiple and corrected, and everyone acts like it was a corporate coverup. Now, some guy puts out unsubstantiated numbers from the sprint inventory (which as has been pointed out don't get close to accurate for 3rd party retailers Walmart, HSN, Best buy, radioshack) and Engadget is irresponsible enough to keep the implication alive!
@everyone does
1st party sales should ALWAYS be stronger than 3rd party channels. So if we use these numbers as a barometer EVO = Fail.
Look on the bright side though. They can get their hardware issues corrected and not have it effect many users.
@Joao Yes, first party sales are probably higher than other channels, but not higher than ALL other COMBINED. Plus, it shows how ignorant you are that you'd say that when you couldn't go out and buy one right now because it's sold out nationwide. A device that is so hot it can't be kept on shelves can't POSSIBLY have already failed.
@Joao
[[1st party sales should ALWAYS be stronger than 3rd party channels]]
Why? That doesn't make any sense at all. I don't know a single person that went to sprint intead of best buy and radioshack to get their EVO. Instant rebates anyone??
Walmart, HSN, wirefly, best buy, radioshack, et al.
You have NOTHING to substantiate such a claim. And you have nothing to substantiate a forum poster's numbers. It's really just an irresponsible bit of so-called "journalism" and you being so ready to sink your teeth into the implications of the articles "yellow" belly is exactly why it's so irresponsible.
@everyone does, I wish you and he/she would read the other comments which point out, the fired employee was using an estimate. Which does not include, online, telesales, Bestbuy, RS and Walmart. Sprint did not make a mistake in the article, engadget did not correctly post what Sprint said in the press release. Obviously you did not read it, here is the link: http://newsreleases.sprint.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=127149&p=irol-newsArticle_newsroom&ID=1436066&highlight= I am more inclined to believe a reputable company over a blog, let alone an anonymous commenter.
A prime example of "the tuth shall set you free" lmao. Sprints wrong for this shit.
-webOS user (i love my pre)
@504kid You fail at reading the details and drawing your own conclusions.
Now I have to believe that at least some engadget's employee are in apple's payroll. This is the worst piece of crap in any meaning.
The writer didn't even bother to read the mobilecrunch post.
And according to such stupid logic, apple must sell ZERO in the cities who don't have an apple RETAIL store in town.
@Programmer Wouldn't be surprised if BF works for an Apple competitor and is tasked with spamming to make fans of apple products look like delusional lunatics. I mean the guy writes like human cartoon character. It's utterly bizarre.
Wow, despite this bickering back and forth, arguments for and against, alleged hardware imperfections, I still want an Evo. I mean just look at the thing. Itz incredibly sexy. Just a few more months to go, then I get my full phone discount and can retire my handy Hero.
They mad
Tsk tsk tsk for EVO fans. Sprint is so trying hard to make it look like EVO is another iPhone that they even have few in stores do they can show that they ran out of them. Lol sad very sad.
Wow, so Sprint sold about 3 EVOs per store. Awesome. The funny thing is that HTC knows for a fact that they would have sold way more with Verizon's Droid branding.
With mediocre sales figures for Sprint, which carrier do you think HTC will break out the big guns for next time?
Sprint fanboys can continue talking about their discount service, but the fact remains that I can either pay Sprint $99.99 for EVERYTHING (half of which I don't need), or continue paying Verizon $109.98/month for what I need (with some buffer room). Let's see, $9.98 to go from the lowest rated carrier in the Southeast to the highest...hmmmm???
Sprint's days continue to be numbered.
@ckeegan I don't even know where to start. So because you get unlimited everything for $10 less than your plan with several limitations, that's bad? Also, if you knew anything you'd know that Sprint's $69 plan offers almost everything: unlimited calls to all mobile phones. How many calls do you make to landline phones in a month? But obviously a $40 savings per month is laughable because it's not limited enough for your tastes.
I have an idea... you can go to AT&T and pay even more and have a 2GB cap on your usage! WIN!
@Ilmater Or you could actually make a valid argument, since now you're comparing my plan with data to Sprint's plan without data. So yes, I could save $40 by switching to Sprint if I also dropped my data.
Here's the thing. Sprint would give me no plan option, other than unlimited everything for $99. I don't send a ton of text/pix, so I could go to Verizon, unlimited talk, 500 text/pix (+ unlimited m2m), and data for $109.98. Yes, I am willing to drop the extra $9.98 to go from the lowest rated to the highest rated.
The fact is that EVO sales were nothing compared to what Sprint made them out to be, they got called on it, and fired the guy. The only excuse Sprint fanboys can give is the fact that Sprint is SO much cheaper than Verizon, but it isn't for 75% of the public that doesn't send/receive 1,000+ texts, or use a ton of data.
@ckeegan Go to sprint.com, mouse over "shop by" and click on "Plans." Under the "Everything Data" section, you'll see the plan with 450 minutes. That plan includes unlimited texts and unlimited data, and 450 minutes. However, your night and weekend minutes start at 7PM, and all calls to mobile numbers - any US carrier - are unlimited as well, so the 450 minutes only apply to landline calls made during peak hours. Sprint IS much cheaper than AT&T or Verizon.
Owned.
Sprint didn't "get called on it and fire the guy." This guy released his numbers on June 6th, and it had nothing to do with numbers that Sprint released on June 7th... because, you see THEY WEREN'T RELEASED YET. He was fired for posting confidential numbers, plain and simple. Too bad Engadget can't make a good story out of that or they'd be posting it instead.
Owned x2. I do want to apologize for ruining your safe little world where you are not over-spending on wireless plans and every corporation in America (except ones you send money to, of course) is full of conspiracies.
@ckeegan The first line of ur post says enough. Sprint sold 3 Evos per store? You couldn't possibly think those numbers were remotely close to being accurate could you? PLEASE just say no.
I normally just cruise the comments and watch the iIdiots and Android fools go back and forth with each other but your comment got me off the bench.
I don't know, the original article said 65,500 and divide that by 22,000 retail locations. You do the math. I was just going by the reports.
As for calls to landlines, I use WAY more than 450 minutes. It's called running a business.
@ckeegan You think Sprint has 22,000 stores in the US? LOL! You think they have more company-owned retail locations than Wal-Mart has Supercenters in the US? Wow. I've got nothing.
@ckeegan Why don't you comment about how you were only going to save $10 on Sprint? Come on, I want to hear you admit you were a fool? I would also like to hear you say that you see clearly how wrong Engadget's article is, and how you see that this "hero" had nothing to do with Sprint's restated numbers.
@Ilmater Apparently you weren't paying attention, because I did comment on it. I use WAY more than 450 minutes per month to landlines, so educate me on a Sprint plan that would save me greater than $10 per month for 2,400+ minutes, at least half of which are calling on offices (i.e. landlines).
The "22,000 retail locations" was from Sprint's own press release touting record sales, genius. You know, the one they later retracted.
My original point still stands though, the EVO would have sold far more units with Verizon's Droid branding.
Is this "Sprint" employee who leaked the information related to that "Best Buy" employee who said the iphone was going to Sprint? Unless there's actual proof, it's only a rumor. Furthermore, we know for a fact it can be very expensive to discover the truth.
For example, many years ago a rumor was going around that the moon was made of cheese. In July 1969, the USA spent billions of dollars to disprove this story by sending three astronauts to moon. They came back with 47.5 pounds of lunar rocks. They had NO cheese whatsoever. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_11
OK, I'm joking. But if it can't present actual proof to support the story line, then an article has about as much chance of being true as the story about the moon being made of cheese.
My sprint store has a 280 person waiting list and I know people on multiple waiting lists. It's safe to say Sprint is doing fine with their Evo sales.
The truth hurts....sucks to be Sprint, any other cell company and they would have sold alot more.
Why is it when ever Engadget posts something about android device someone always says Apple Fanboys.