If the iPhone 5 is going to be a "global" device, why not add Sprint?
Verizon’s CFO recently leaked information that the iPhone 5 would indeed be a “global” device that works on both GSM and CDMA networks. Given the fact that Sprint operates on CDMA, why wouldn’t the iPhone 5 be offered on the U.S.’s third largest carrier this time around?
Ever since the release of Verizon’s iPhone, many had wondered whether Apple would design the iPhone 5 to be a dual network device, integrating both GSM and CDMA compatibility into one phone, or instead offer two separate devices for AT&T and Verizon, respectively. Lucky for us, Verizon’s CFO Fran Shammo seems to have spilled the beans on a dual-network, “global” iPhone 5, as we reported in another article. Outside of an official confirmation from Apple — which won’t come until the formal announcement of the iPhone 5 — it’s apparent that the iPhone 5 will support both GSM and CDMA.
Given these apparent facts, why doesn’t Apple extend the iPhone 5‘s availability to include the Sprint network?
In the world of U.S. mobile networks, Sprint is often regarded as the red-headed stepchild of them all: while AT&T touts speed and Verizon boasts of coverage, Sprint’s business model is all about marketing its value pricing. Because of this, many performance-minded smartphone users opt for speed or coverage over savings, making AT&T and Verizon the top two carriers. But Sprint, after all, is the third largest mobile carrier in the U.S., with over 55 million subscribers. When you consider that AT&T, America’s top provider, has 62 million subscribers, you begin to see how the difference between first and third isn’t all that wide, and that opening up the iPhone 5 to Sprint’s customers could be advantageous.
Especially considering that the Android smartphones are already on Sprint.
Recently, Sprint has been pushing Kyrocera’s new Echo smartphone, a dual-screen marvel that seems to be paving the way for the next generation of Android 3.0 gadgets, both in the smartphone sector as well as tablet devices to go up against the iPad 2 (such as Sony’s new S2 fold-up, dual-screened tablet). For as much as the iPhone 5 will need to compete with dual-screened devices like the Echo on the technological level, Apple will also have to match Android in availability as well.
With this in mind, wouldn’t it make sense to offer the iPhone 5 to Sprint’s 55 million subscribers? After all, Sprint utilizes the same CDMA technology as Verizon. In this way, the iPhone 5′s “global” characteristics would jive perfectly with Sprint as it does with Verizon.
To date, there is no hard evidence that the iPhone 5 will indeed be offered on the Sprint network. The only credible shred of information about Sprint and the iPhone 5 was from Sprint’s Chief Financial Officer Robert Brust, who simply said of the iPhone 5 in May of 2010 that “we’d love to have it.” The iPhone 5 News Blog reported on this story way back in February that a Sprint iPhone 5 is a possibility. So, if the iPhone 5 surprisingly appears on Sprint at the end of this summer, remember that you saw it here first!
The iPhone 5 on T-Mobile?
Just today, there are fresh reports from Beatweek and other tech news sources that either the iPhone 5 and/or white iPhone 4 will be released on AT&T’s newly subsumed carrier T-Mobile. Beatweek boldly claims that, “AT&T just bought T-Mobile. AT&T already offers the iPhone. As such, T-Mobile was probably already a lock to offer the iPhone 5. A late arriving iPhone 5 means Apple could, if it wants to, go ahead and do a T-Mobile iPhone 4.”
While that deductive reasoning by Beatweek and others may make for a sensational headline, it represents irresponsible journalism at best: at the time of T-Mobile’s acquisition by AT&T for $39 billion in March of 2011, T-Mobile made it resoundingly clear that the iPhone 5 — or any iPhone for that matter — would not be released to T-Mobile customers in 2011.
In a succinct article on IT Pro Portal, Desire Athow reports that, when asked about the iPhone coming to T-Mobile:
“In a FAQ published by the company earlier today, the answer is a resounding no. T-Mobile USA says that it remains an independent company as the acquisition process is expected to last at least one year. It added that it will not offer the iPhone 4 (and its successor the iPhone 5), instead redirecting customers to “cutting edge devices” like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and the Sidekick 4G, also built by Samsung.”
Unless the official statements from AT&T and T-Mobile were blatant lies, then there is no reason to believe rumors of a T-Mobile iPhone release this year.
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