Sprint customers in Minnesota may be eligible for a refund if they had a cellphone contract extended without their knowledge. A legal settlement was made today that entitles those who got locked into a 2 year contract extension without their permission to an early termination fee refund. State Attorney General Lori Swanson said that the office will accept claims until March 15.
There are about 400,000 potential Sprint customers that are eligible for the settlement. Initially Swanson filed for $25,000 per incident but ended up settling for refunding the termination fees. Sprint Nextel accepted the settlement without admitting that they had done anything wrong.
The 2 year contract extensions were made without the consent of customers even when they made minor changes to their accounts such as changing the number of minutes.
Recently without notice Sprint decided to block tethering for smartphones on their network out of the blue. And Sprint customers are furious about the changes. I read comments that some people may quit the service just because of the change. It doesn’t matter if you are on the “Everything” plan or not, tethering will no longer work for you starting in 2010.
The changes were confirmed by Sprint executive David Owens. During a virtual chat on the Sprint website, Owens also revealed that Google Android OS updates will be added to the HTC Hero and the Samsung Moment. The price of Android phones will decrease “as we see volume across the industry” according to Owens.
Samsung announced earlier this week that they are launching the Intreprid on Sprint. The Intrepid has a QWERTY keyboard. The Intrepid uses the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system and has a customizable Today screen. The Intrepid has a 2.5-inch touchscreen display and a 3.2 megapixel camera. Other features include Bluetooth, social networking capabilities, WiFi and a 32GB microSD card expansion slot. The Intrepid will also have Sprint services Sprint NFL Mobile and Music Store applications built into the phone. The Intrepid will sell for $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate and 2 year contract.
Sprint has just sent out a press release along with a pre-registration page about the launch of the Samsung Moment. The Moment is the brand name Samsung is going with for a phone that has been previously been called the InstinctQ in earlier reports. The Moment features include 800MHz processor, 3.2″ AMOLED screen, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and an optional trackpad. The price of the phone will be $179 with a 2 year contract, $50 instant savings, and $100 mail-in rebate. Availability of the phone starts November 1st.
Sprint created a Sprint Developer Website for Android developers earlier this week. Sprint recently unveiled the HTC Hero as their first device. The website is intended to be a resource for helping Android developers to create applications. The company also launched the Sprint Developer Sandbox on the Sprint Developer Website. The Sandbox will offer access to message, Geofence services, and location-based services. About 400 developers attending the Sprint Developers Conference will be given an HTC Hero along with one month of free service. The conference is taking place at the end of October in Santa Clara, CA.
Several publications have received test units of the HTC Hero and reviews have been flying around to-and-fro. Navigation of the operating system is controlled by a white tracking ball towards the bottom of the phone. The buttons are also integrated into the metallic base of the phone.
The camera in the phone is 5 megapixel which allows you to take high-resolution photos while you’re on the go. This is an awesome feature to have when sending TwitPics of things you want to show your followers. The phone also runs on Sprint’s 3G network. The Hero won’t be able to run on AT&T or T-Mobile because it does not have a SIM card slot. For memory expansion, there is a microSD card slot.
The phone kit also has an NFL widget which is exclusive for Sprint. The phone also has a couple of NASCAR apps and the Sprint Navigator feature. The phone does not come with the Sprint TV icon on the homepage. But the Amazon MP3 store icon shows up on the homepage. CrunchGear reported that browsing e-mail was a breeze, but tethering systems are disabled on the phone.
The camera and camcorder are pretty standard but the autofocus works very well. The phone also handles contacts very well. The Palm Pre struggles to absorb over 100 contacts from Google and Facebook, but the Hero had no issue absorbing 300+ contacts for CrunchGear editor John Biggs. The phone runs on the Google Android operating system and costs about $180 when signing a 2 year contract with Sprint.
Sprint is selling the HTC Touch Pro2 for $349.99. The Touch Pro2 is a top-notch smart-phone but Sprint is not making it easy for their customers to get a hold of it. The $349.99 price that Sprint is selling the Touch Pro2 for is after rebates and two year contract. Verizon on the other hand is selling the HTC Touch Pro2 for $199.99 after two year contract and $100 mail-in rebate. Perhaps if Deutsche Telekom ends up buying Sprint, they can teach them a thing or two about having lower prices.
Deutsche Telekom has called on Deutsche Bank advisers to study if it is possible for the telecommunications giant to buy Sprint. Sprint is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States. This possibility arises at a time when T-Mobile UK may be tying their operations with Orange to create the biggest mobile phone company in the United Kingdom.
Sprint has a market cap of $10.6 billion and Deutsche Telekom may submit a bid within the next few weeks. Deutsche Telekom has a market cap of $60.5 billion. T-Mobile U.S. continues to struggle against AT&T and Verizon Wireless in retaining customers. Both AT&T and Verizon have advanced 3G networks while T-Mobile has been slow at jumping on the bandwagon.
In order to buy out Sprint, Deutsche Telekom would need a cash injection from shareholders and the German government. The German government owns about 32% in Deutsche Telekom.
Rest in peace, Thomas Murphy. Over the weekend Sprint Nextel Corporation’s Vice President of Corporate Brand Marketing Thomas Murphy was killed when driving with his wife Jennifer and three kids. A boulder slammed through the car’s windshield when his family was driving in Snowmass Canyon, Colorado.
Murphy was driving a Cheavy Tahoe and they were driving downvalley on highway 82 when the rock hit. Jennifer took control of the vehicle by putting it in neutral causing the car to stop between a nursery and a gas station at the right hand side of the road. The red sandstone rock was the size of a briefcase.
A similar incident took place a couple of weeks before on Frying Pan Road in Colorado. During that incident, a boulder hit a couple’s Land Rover Discovery SUV. The SUV was knocked down a 30 ft. embankment and into the river. Fortunately that couple made it out just in time without injury.
Amit Chowdhry | August 14, 2009 | 212 views | Comments Categorized under Sprint
Sprint is planning to raise $500 million through a public offering which would go towards general business expenses. This past Monday, Sprint filed the possibility of the fund raising with the SEC. General business expenses also includes the acquisition of Virgin Mobile for $483 million.
Sprint would raise the funds by offering senior unsecured notes that would mature in August 2017. The 8-year notes was given a BB rating by Fitch Ratings. Sprint lost many subscribers last year, but all of their competitors gained subscribers.
However Sprint has the exclusive rights for selling the Palm Pre device and this helped the telecommunications company beat sales records.
Last month Sprint made an agreement to acquire Virgin Mobile for $483 million. Shortly after that announcement, Virgin Mobile announced their second quarter profits. Virgin said that their popular $50 unlimited plan was the reason why second quarter profits were driven to $16.8 million. In terms of the number of subscribers, Virgin Mobile lost many of them. About a year ago, Virgin Mobile’s profits was only $3.5 million.
Virgin Mobile also said that they plan to shift away from the $49.99 plan by the end of the year. “Our new $49.99 Unlimited offer has been particularly successful, representing 21% of all gross adds in May and June,” stated Virgin Mobile CEO Dan Schulman. “Supporting this strategic customer focus is the sale of higher-priced handsets, which are associated with higher data usage, better churn, and significantly higher lifetime value.”
The company lost 269,239 customers in the quarter. Revenue for the quarter was $307.6 million. In the same quarter the year before, the company reported $319.9 million.
Before the acquisition, Sprint and Virgin Group formed Virgin Mobile in 2002 as a joint venture. Sprint has been a primary provider of the Virgin Mobile network ever since.
Within the next couple of weeks, Sprint plans to release a Samsung biodegradable mobile phone. The Samsung Reclaim will have mobile web access, camera, GPS, slide out keyboard, etc. The Samsung Reclaim will be eco-friendly and even calls out the T-Mobile Motorola Renew.
The Samsung Reclaim costs only $50. Sprint will be paying Samsung “more than the usual amount of subsidies.” The $50 price tag will require a 2 year contract with Sprint. The Samsung Reclaim phone case is made out of biodegradable plastic partially made out corn.
”Samsung Reclaim is more than just an eco-centric device, it’s also a powerful and stylish phone that’s easy-to-use,” stated Samsung Mobile SVP of Strategy and Product Management Omar Khan. “When you combine the Reclaim’s impressive feature set with its bio-plastic hardware and eco-centric packaging, you’re using a phone that is good for you and the environment.”
PhoneArena has discovered a Sprint document that displays the release date of the Sprint Touch Pro2. Rumor has it that the device will be arriving on September 3rd. The Touch Pro2 will be powered by the Windows Mobile 6.1. The specs of the phone are available after the jump.
Telecommunications company Sprint has announced a new set of wireless routers that support 3G and 4G networks. The Personal Hotspot PHS300S and the Cradlepoint MBR-1000 support 3G (EV-DO Rev. A) and 4G (WiMax) connections. The PHS300S can support 4 WiFi connections simultaneously. The MBR-1000 was intended more for enterprise uses and can support 32 connections. The PHS300S sells for $159.99 and the MBR-1000 costs $249.99. Both are available right now for purchase and require either a 3G or a 4G plan with a price range of $39.99-$79.99.
Amit Chowdhry | July 29, 2009 | 220 views | Comments Categorized under Sprint
Despite breaking Sprint’s sales records in June, the Palm Pre was not able to help steer the troubled telecommunications company out of the red-inked bottom line. Today Sprint announced a net loss of $384 million. The loss was due to the loss of 257,000 subscribers. Next quarter the company will also be reporting the acquisition of Virgin Mobile. One of the biggest reasons why customers are switching from Sprint is because of AT&T’s exclusive rights to the Apple iPhone.
