Signaling that Sprint is finally on the right track New York Times has reported that Sprint has actually net subscriptions last quarter. They of course went on to state that it may have only been because Sprint customers were waiting to go to Verizon for the iPhone.
Christopher Larsen, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, said rumors about the new iPhone might have helped Sprint’s customer cancellations, or churn, in the fourth quarter if consumers were waiting to go to Verizon. “Churn may have been artificially low, industry wide, in the fourth quarter as people waited,” Larsen said.
Taking this with a grain of this with salt, as they failed to mention that now Sprint is now in the perfect position to push Android powered phones. Verizon currently sells the most Android phones, and that will probably be the case for awhile. However, Sprint has been pushing Android hard in their advertisements, as well as their new 69.99 Mobile to Mobile unlimited plan. In fact, currently Sprint is offering a perfectly capable Android smart phone for free.
Verizon’s marketing for Android has been huge, and we have yet to see if they will continuing their current marketing strategy.
Verizon has been fine tuning their plans for awhile in anticipation of the iPhone launch, ending their popular “New Every Two” deal. The amount Verizon pays Apple per additional subscriber, or each month per iPhone customer, is not known yet. Either way, Verizon is likely to alienate as many customers as they make happy.
Android fan boys are arguably more passionate of their product than their iPhone counterparts, and may reward Sprint and T-Mobile for just having the ability to carry Android.
Which Android? The phone or the tablet version?