Right on cue, Samsung's retooled Instinct (that'd be the Instinct S30, if you had any doubts) has gone on sale at Sprint. You'll also notice that the $129.99 on-contract price we heard about is completely in tact, despite the fact that Best Buy Mobile could be selling this same handset in stores later this week for $80 less. At any rate, those champing at the bit to get one headed their way can now do so after choosing between Cobalt Metal and Touch of Copper hues, and if you're looking to snag one with no strings attached, you'll be paying $449.99 in order to do so.

[Thanks, Mike]

So, what's a flagging cellular operator to do once it has succumbed to the grim realization that no one wants to sign up for your service and you've already collected the dough from selling off nearly all of your towers? Go wholesale, of course! Unbeknownst to most, all of the Kindle downloads on Amazon's white-hot e-reader go through Sprint's network, and given just how successful that little venture has been, the carrier is hoping to expand its revenues from wholesaling bandwidth (which currently sits at just 3 percent of its total) by inking similar deals with connected gadget makers. From internet-connected vehicles to GPS systems to cameras, the options are darn near limitless, and with so much free capacity on Sprint's network, it might as well find companies to use it. 'Course, it's not like Sprint's the only one out there trying to carve these kinds of deals into stone, but it's definitely the one that needs to do it most immediately.

[Via Unwired View]

It wasn't that long ago that Monday mornings in the office were a depressing time -- another cheerful weekend gone; another long week of work ahead. But, these days, being in the office on a Monday is a good thing, because if your login still works you've survived another scary layoff Friday. Spare a thought, then, for those whose system access has been cut off, including 1,300 from Sun (the first wave of a total of 6,000 planned job cuts), 8,000 workers at Sprint who are due to receive pink slips, 6,000 from Philips, and an unannounced number of IBM workers (rumored to be 16,000) who have also found themselves to be on the wrong side of the cost-cutting ax. In one final bit of cheery news, AMD has reported a $1.4 billion loss in the fourth quarter of 2008 and, after shedding its handheld graphics unit, is now selling its manufacturing operations to Advanced Technology Investment. Oh, sorry, you were hoping for some genuinely good news? How about this: that loss is smaller than AMD's $1.8 billion loss from the same time last year. Now have a great day!

Read - Sun confirms 1,300 layoffs
Read - Sprint Nextel Plans to Cut 8,000 Jobs in Quarter
Read - Philips to Release 6000 Employees into Wild
Read - Several IBM employees report being laid off on Alliance@IBM
Read - IBM Confirms Layoffs
Read - AMD Reports $1.4 Billion Loss

Verizon may have been bangin' on Sprint's iDEN network, but that's not stopping the yellow-faced carrier from introducing the "first ever" (wait, really?) push-to-talk BlackBerry on those very waves. Sprint is hailing the Curve 8350i as the "most advanced push-to-talk BlackBerry smartphone ever," and given the options in the past, it's hard to disagree. Thankfully, there's also integrated WiFi / GPS as well as support for Group Connect, international direct connect and Talkgroup; you'll also spot a 2-megapixel camera, multimedia player, speakerphone, video recorder, a microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, a stereo headset jack and a removable 1,400mAh battery. It's available now in a rather stocky 4.4- x 2.4- x 0.7-inch frame for as low as $149.99 (after all applicable rebates) on a two-year plan.

Hang tight to that Samsung SWC-E100 ExpressCard you snatched up as one of the few early adopters in Baltimore -- that thing could one day be a serious relic (or rare eBay find). Just over a year since launching the perplexedly named XOHM WiMAX service, Sprint has decided to rechristen the whole thing Sprint 4G after its workings with Clearwire. Reportedly, the carrier will be offering up dual-mode CDMA / WiMAX modems as early as the end of this year (at least in the Charm City), while similarly equipped handsets won't be too many months behind (just like we'd heard). Kinda hurts to know you can't add a CDMA radio into that WiMAX-only card you already purchased, huh?

[Via phonescoop]

This one's been a long time in the making, but the deal is finally done. Clearwire and Sprint Nextel have gleefully announced that the transaction to combine their next-generation wireless internet businesses is complete, and beers are on the two of 'em this evening. On the real, the agreement dictates that Sprint hand over all of its 2.5GHz spectrum and WiMAX-related assets (including XOHM) to Clearwire; additionally, Clearwire has received a $3.2 billion cash infusion from Comcast, Intel, Time Warner Cable, Google and Bright House Networks. Details beyond that are scant, though we are told that the terms "originally announced on May 7, 2008" are the ones being abided by, and the new company will retain the Clearwire name and its Kirkland, Washington headquarters.

Sprint's year just keeps getting worse. After losing over 900,000 customers last quarter while posting a $344 million loss, the company insistent on advertising with faux soap operas and in black and white (and yellow) is hanging its head once more. During Q3, the carrier saw 1.3 million net subscribers head for the exits, and it also reported a loss of $326 million. According to CEO Dan Hesse, Sprint "has yet to turn the corner," warning that the process of turning things around would be gradual. Moving forward, the company expects gross additions to "stabilize," while the turnover rate is apt to remain at around 2.15%. In related news, the provider's stock price has sunk around 60% in the past six months, and while that's surely bad news to shareholders, not many other mega-corps out there are doing tremendously better.

[Via The New York Times]

We told you it wasn't over, and now, that once "manageable" $73 million payment could possibly balloon to upwards of $1.2 billion. As predicted, the prior suit -- which was held in a California state court -- has led to a far reaching class-action lawsuit that could "potentially cost the company as much as $1.2 billion." The suit alleges that the $150 to $200 fees violated the Federal Communications Act and laws in every state of the country, and when summed from 1999 to 2008, they total a magical $1.2 billion. Things aren't looking great for Sprint on this one either, as lawyer Scott Bursor is running the show. Who's he? Just a guy who was involved in getting Verizon to fork over $21 million for the same thing earlier this year.

[Via textually]

We've seen some pretty wild on-again / off-again relationships in the scandalous world of gadget affairs, but this one has been swinging from one extreme to the other at breakneck pace. Let's recap: after proclaiming that it was absolutely committed to iDEN in February of 2008, rumors then started flying that Sprint was looking to offload the whole thing and move on with life. A month later, the carrier's CEO practically confirmed that an iDEN network sale was still an option. Now, the seemingly bipolar company has issued a press release reaffirming its adoration for the chirping-est network this side of Oz, stating that "after careful review of the iDEN business, Sprint intends to retain and rejuvenate this important asset." Which could be PR speak for "nobody wanted this thing, so what other option did we really have?" Regardless of the truth, it seems the push-to-talk network that just won't die will live to see another day, but as history has shown, all that could change in a split second (or at Sprint Speed, whichever you prefer).

[Via phonescoop]

Last summer, Sprint was the laughing stock of the major US carriers in terms of customer service. Fast forward 15 months, and the very same carrier is now sitting atop the pile. A recent report compiled by Pali Research has found that Sprint's wireless customer care response times were best in class, and just 2.5 years ago in its first survey, Sprint was dead last. The carrier answered a whopping 91% of calls that researchers placed to the care center in under 30 seconds, while 99% of calls were answered within 2 minutes. If you're curious how the other guys did, try this: Verizon grabbed the silver with 85%, T-Mobile followed with 43% and AT&T took home the award of shame with just 33% of test calls answered within half a minute. So, the real question is: have you Sprint customers noticed an uptick in service levels? And are you AT&T subscribers growing increasingly impatient?

[Via phoneArena]

Still committed to iDEN, eh? After another relatively brutal quarter of lost cash, lost subscribers, and lost opportunities, word on the street is that Sprint might be rethinking its approach to its legacy push-to-talk network -- the obsolescence-bound spectrum it acquired via its purchase of Nextel a few years back for the questionable price of $35 billion. Given Sprint's current financial state, a liquidity crunch means that the carrier is looking to offload any salable piece; Nextel's not exactly the most attractive piece of that puzzle with a declining subscriber base, limited bandwidth, and a limited range of Moto hardware to back it up, but even at its current estimated value of $5 billion, analysts are suggesting that Sprint could be willing to bite at a deal. NII Holdings, which operates iDEN networks under the Nextel brand in Brazil, Mexico, and a handful of other Latin American countries, is being tossed around as a potential suitor, as are private equity firms looking to make a quick buck. How one goes about making a quick buck on a network as old and quirky as iDEN in the year 2008, though, remains to be seen.

[Via Phone Scoop]

Details are scarce right now, but you can make of it what you will. Sprint hasn't been in the best of situations since it acquired Nextel in 2005, and while this move may not be seen by everyone as definitively negative, it certainly is worth noting. The flagging carrier sold off "nearly all" (around 3,300) of its wireless communication towers to TowerCo for some $670 million in cash. According to Sprint Nextel's Bob Azzi, the move to lease rather than own these network facilities will enable it to "better focus on its core business of providing communications services to consumers, businesses and government customers." He continued by noting that the transaction "provides Sprint Nextel with additional liquidity [for] greater flexibility in managing the company." Whatever you say, sir.

[Via InformationWeek]

Some particularly juicy rumors die hard, and this one certainly qualifies: CNBC is reporting that SK Telecom is looking to hook up with some private equity firms to buy out Sprint Nextel, though a deal is "not imminent." This one's been making the rounds since last year, though it's possible that SKT sees some new impetus for making a break into the US market now that it's sold off its share in Helio -- and buying the third largest carrier in the country would certainly qualify as "making a break." It's claimed that SKT's only interested in completing a friendly deal -- no crazy hostile takeovers here -- and some of Sprint's board members aren't keen on the idea at this point, so it's definitely a hit-or-miss proposition. If this all means we can get even half of Korea's domestic hardware on US airwaves, then hey, no complaints on this end.

Update: The Wall Street Journal is now suggesting that Sprint and SKT are investigating some sort of joint venture -- not a full-on acquisition -- that would see the lovebirds work together on handsets and services. Possible, but we're curious to know what exactly Sprint brings to the table in that equation. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!