Comments on: Can you say MetroPCS iPhone? T-Mobile sure can

By: College

College — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:29:19 +0000

Exactly what Jason doesn’t understand is that big boys in the executive don’t care about personal opinions and biases…. They just follow the money.

Look at Sprint… the Sprint PCs business was loosing hundreds of thousands of subscribers every quarter. Now Sprint PCS is adding hundred thousand NEW subscribers. And these are high paying long term guaranteed subscribers.

Outcome: stock up over 122% in one year.

Bottom line: who cares if it’s an iPhone? if that’s what everyone wants you would be stupid not to offer it. (T-Mobile, are you listening??)

By: College

College — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 21:25:40 +0000

Kevin I really do hope that you write an article spelling out what T-Mobile needs to do… And with proper research realize that T-Mobile NEEDS to Sprint. Sprint is not a failure (yes there were false starts – clearwire) but their management and strategy will turn out to be correct. Their stock is up over 122% this year.

T-Mobile needs to follow what Sprint did: shutdown incompatible network, offer the iPhone ASAP, offer a distinct competitive advantage to coincide the iPhone, build out a uniform LTE network.

Remember, Sprint had the same problem with hundreds of thousands of subscribers leaving every quarter.

By: Kevin Fitchard

Kevin Fitchard — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 21:25:07 +0000

Thanks Richard

By: Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 20:57:45 +0000

Good insight, Kevin, this is exactly what I told the Capitol Hill reporters yesterday.

By: boltar

boltar — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:04:55 +0000

Cell phone carriers are “so in love with the iPhone” because of the subscriber metrics it delivers. The “carriers can’t afford it” meme is ridiculous –– it’s a huge cash cow for them, subject to the initial buy-in costs associated with paying the subsidy. But they are effectively buying very lucrative cash cows.

By: Boltar

Boltar — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 15:02:03 +0000

Customers pay Apple’s margins (as part of the device price) – not carriers. The carriers simply make a credit deal to let you stretch out your payments. It’s like saying the dealers pay GM’s profit margin when you buy a car with an auto loan. With the reduced churn and higher service fee payments the iPhone delivers, none of the carriers are losing money on Apple, they’re just encountering near-term cash flow problems associated with effectively loaning their new customers money to buy equipment.

T-Mobile may not be able to afford the same level of subsidy as Verizon and AT&T with their lower plan rates, but they most definitely cannot survive in current market conditions for much longer without offering it.

By: Dave Wright

Dave Wright — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 23:05:39 +0000

There’s a growing market for lower cost pre-paid plans tied to Bring Your Own Phone (BYOP). T-Mo is the one US MNO who seems interested in this market, the MVNOs being StraightTalk and Ting. Some folks who can do the math realize that they can buy an unlocked iPhone or Galaxy S III and still come out ahead over a 2 yr service period. We need to stop associating prepaid with low end handsets and customers.

By: BodegaBay

BodegaBay — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:47:57 +0000

EOY can’t come soon enough. As soon as they get their 3G 1900Mhz spectrum up, I’m paying my family’s AT&T ETF and moving their iPhones. Get moving T-Mobile!

By: College

College — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 22:11:25 +0000

From the business/financial view (irregardless of opinion and preference)… Sprint was in the same predicament only worse… they were losing hand over first massive number of consumers every quarter from both Nextel network and from Sprint. Sprint consumers were leaving for AT&T and Verizon because the iPhone.

Financially, Sprint is in a better (though still in very bad trouble) position now after stemming the loss on the Sprint side and actually bringing in new high paying customers. Now they’re able to keep servicing their massive amount of debt, while also servicing Clearwire.

If wasn’t for the deal that the CEO made to pony up and pay Apple billions for the iPhone, Sprint would have clearly declared bankruptcy quarters ago.

Remember, Sprint is hemorrhaging money and customers from previous partnerships and acquisitions: Nextel and Clearwire. They were also losing hundreds of thousands of consumers on its Sprint network until very recently after having the iPhone with an attractive service offer (unlimited).

So I’m not seeing how it was a disaster (putting aside opinions)?

Financially, the question asking “was the iPhone was good or bad for Sprint?” – is the wrong one.
It was good and that deal is the only thing that’s keeping the company afloat.

The question going forward to ask for Sprint is… will the iPhone deal provide enough benefits and financial strength in revenue to offset the continual loss from Nextel and Clearwire?

That’s the question.

Keep bias and opinion out of this… this is business. For whatever reason (for better or for worse) the reason that consumers were (and are) leaving in the hundreds of thousands to other carriers is because of the iPhone.

Remember before Sprint signed the iPhone deal, Sprint was losing customers that dumped cheap unlimited data for more expensive and capped data at AT&T and Verizon…why? iPhone.

By: RobPaulGru

RobPaulGru — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 21:27:02 +0000

Would rather see a Lumia 920 from the partnership.