Is The iPhone Next Headed For Sprint/Nextel?
Rumor has it Sprint will be the third carrier to get it
08/24/2011 | By Mark Huffman
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ConsumerAffairs.com
| Cell Phones & Smart Phones
Apple hasn't been making much news lately, but that hasn't stopped the rumors. In fact, it may have fed them.
The latest hot rumor is that Apple will make a version of its yet-to-be-announced iPhone 5 for Sprint/Nextel. The Wall Street Journal was first to report the rumor, based on sources. Analysts were quick to say the move would make sense for both parties.
Apple has already seen the benefits of adding Verizon Wireless as a carrier, selling 4.6 million iPhones to Verizon subscribers in six months. Technology analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray estimates Sprint/Nextel customers would buy six million iPhones in the first year of availability.
CNET chimed in with the opinion that adding the iPhone to its offerings would almost certainly require Sprint/Nextel to end its unlimited data plan, as AT&T and Verizon have done.
The deal would also make a lot of sense for Sprint/Nextel, which will need some kind of advantage if the AT&T acquisition of T-Mobile is allowed to go through. Sprint/Nextel would become a small number three carrier behind AT&T and Verizon.
Cheaper iPhone 4?
The Sprint/Nextel hook-up is not the only iPhone rumor this week. It's also being reported that Apple is considering production of a cheaper iPhone 4.
When the iPhone 4 debuted a year ago, the iPhone 3GS – the model it replaced – was repackaged and sold for $49 with a two year service plan. Reuters reports Apple would follow the same formula with the iPhone 4, reducing the memory to 8GB.
That, of course, is all contingent on there being an iPhone 5. No one on the planet doubts that there will be, but the biggest rumor of all concerns when that product might launch and what it will look like. In the past, Apple has introduced new product in late June or early July, but those months passed without an iPhone 5.
Consensus opinion is that the launch will take place in October. The people at Apple, of course, are the only ones that know but they aren't talking – saying they never comment on rumor or speculation.
Nick Pirce (Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:22:39 +0000): The addition of Sprint as the third iPhone carrier in the U.S. would add 1.2 million sales this year.
Bessie F. Kyles-Scott (Sun, 28 Aug 2011 19:53:25 +0000): I have been a customer of Sprint for years, and have had no real issues. I tend to be loyal when the service is customer friendly and Sprint has been that for me. I would never leave Sprint to purchase the iphone but if Sprint carries this phone I would of course purchase one. Go Sprint!