http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/ Engadget Mobile Comments for Samsung Instinct to run $199.99 on contract http://mobile.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://mobile.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2009 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/Jun 11th 2008 6:56PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/blah...you're ugly.]]>Jun 11th 2008 7:46PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/
Can this phone be unlocked and used on a Helio account? I know Helio uses Sprint and Verizon infrastructure, and I'm getting a little tired of waiting for some new phones (love my Drift, but ready to upgrade).]]>Jun 11th 2008 7:10PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/
Technically yes but realistically no:(]]>Jun 11th 2008 7:30PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/
What if I want an Instinct or an iPhone or an HTC Diamond, but I don't want GPS or satellite internet? What if I just want to use the other features or just use the WiFi option for my internet instead? Does this mean I have to settle with one of the normal phones now? These are all rhetorical questions, btw.]]>Jun 11th 2008 8:12PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/Jun 11th 2008 11:45PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/Jun 11th 2008 9:08PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/
Well spoke with the other gentleman twice. Yesterday, June 10, 2008, I called him and the number was disconnected. So I called Kevin back and left two voice mails in a row. If Kevin does not call me back, I will write another letter to the President explaining that if they want my business (3 lines too), that I want this new phones for free. If not, bye bye Sprint, Hello HTC Pro or Xperia!

Am I wrong considering I spend over $2000 a year on cell phones?



Dear Sprint,

Please forward this email to your new CEO and have it read in front of your board members as I believe it directly relates to your current Stock trading today around $8.50 a share and the report this morning of your “Sprint posts big loss, stops dividend, New CEO says company in worse shape than he expected”, “Sprint posts $29 Billion dollar loss”.

This also relates to the techies that set trends by trying and buying the latest phones, which in turn, makes the other consumers follow suit. Mind you, I temporarily left Sprint for 3 days when the iPhone came out until it froze up on me and I had to switch back ASAP because of business reasons.

1. TYPES OF PHONES SPRINT CARRY

The business of cell phone carriers are changing. The “phone” will be the number one reason why people will choose your company and the “services” you provide will be your bread and butter. AT&T and Apple’s iPhone have proven this and set a precedence. Sprint, for now has the fastest internet network but the worst types of phones compared to AT&T, Verizon and even Helio (which built a cool phone that leases your network!?!?!?). “technology marketer Anup Murarka of Adobe noted that 77 percent of iPhone buyers have labeled themselves as "very satisfied" with their experience -- something he and the other panelists agreed was not attributable to carrier AT&T, but almost entirely to Apple, the phone's designer.”

Printing out this article from Wired.com (see below) and reading it at your next board meeting would be a good idea. Hire managers with TECH heavy experience within innovation and getting the Phone makers to produce the phones which are able to be released on your networks. This will save your company and make it become a leader and not a follower with low Stock prices. Please read this article: “The Untold Story: How the iPhone Blew Up the Wireless Industry” at Wired online.

Do you really want to save your company and start attracting new customers? Start SELLING smarter phones with the latest and greatest like this one by Sony Ericsson's XPERIA X1 QWERTY with Windows Mobile.


I plan on leaving Sprint again after being a loyal customer and my number one reason is not just the poor customer service, ( I enjoy your high speed network for my wireless card), it boils down to the lack of quality phones without a QWERTY keyboard, running windows mobile 6, Google’s Android and even the Linux platform. Sprint needs to be the innovator and bring over phones that are currently the latest rage, iPhone clones and iPhone killers. That is where both AT&T and Verizon are light years ahead of your company. It is great that you are now offering the "Simply Everything" plan for $99 a month but without the latest and greatest phones, your stocks will continue to plummet and the customers will leave in droves. My friends have horrible coverage, dropped calls with Verizon, but they also much more sophisticated phones with a lesser carrier in my opinion. The other day, my partner at work who just bought the Voyager, hates the fact that he has dropped calls at our office all the time. But when I was driving one day, I had him use my Sanyo M1 to text a message to a work associate, he said and I quote “No wonder no one sends me text messages, this takes forever to send a sentence” = and he can text pretty fast too.

Here are a list of phones that would put some competition back into your hands and bring some new customers into the fold (but your customer service wait times need to be worked on as well):

Android Handset: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/28/android-gets-handled-now-with-street-view/

Samsung Google Branded Phone: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/19/samsung-built-google-branded-android-phones-due-later-this-year/

Samsung’s Touchwiz: http://www.engadget.com/2008/02/15/samsungs-new-touchwiz-ui-gets-previewed-on-video/


Invest in getting these latest and greatest phones at Sprint (even it if means leasing networks from your competitors to get these new phones/trading/sharing your networks with them as well), focus on the “Services you provide like downloads and Sprint TV”, have the big makers develop new phones like the ones above and bust your butts to getting contracts for these types of phones, offer unlimited everything including internet for $69-99 dollars a month and watch your stock triple within 12-24 months and become a true innovator or leader in the industry.

2. CUSTOMER SERVICE

My customer service experience which my Girlfriend recently had (in her own words):
Recently Sprint changed its wireless card billing system. I pay my cell phone and wireless card online. When I went online to pay my wireless card bill, I was asked to call Sprint to obtain and/or set a pin number. When I called the customer service representative seemed confused as to why I was calling. Finally when I got him to understand what I was asking for….he said “oh you don’t have a pin number.” No kidding. He had my on hold for over 15 minutes to reset my pin. This call took over 30 minutes. After the call was over, I went online and guess what? He had reset my password and pin for my cell phone – why? So I called again and spoke to “Maria” who I went over and over with this situation because I STILL couldn’t pay my wireless card online. After another 40 minutes, she assured me that everything was reset. I got off the phone and got online again – now the issue was although I could get into the account online, there was no where online where I could pay it. I called Sprint again deciding to pay it over the phone. Well, that took another 3 separate phone numbers. A person who is busy like myself should not have to spend so much time trying to pay her online bill – AND deal with persons representing Sprint who were unknowledgeable at best. Once my contract is up, and if Sprint does not provide the quality phones that I am seeking containing Windows Mobile, Touch Screens with QWERTY keyboards, I am switching my service. Please note that I have had other billing problems with Sprint in the past, and when you ask to have it corrected – you are treated by the staff at Sprint like you are asking for something that you are not deserving???? It was ridiculous.

3. UNFOCUSED MARKETING

“Unfocused marketing and a difficulty in merging the two companies' work forces into a cohesive whole.” When I see your commercials with all these fancy lights using the new LG Rumor phone with a slide-out qwerty keyboard, it says to me the consumer, “Sprint is for kids texting I love you to each other – At the speed of light of course”. Get better phones developed for your network and focus on having the latest and greatest phones out there. Sell that with your unlimited package, streamline pricing so you can cut your customer service wait times regarding billing (which will cut your CSR costs) and sell your wireless cards and promote the Sprint extras. Get rid of the crap phones you carry because those won’t draw half the customers compared to the Four phones I have shown you above. And, please hire a better marketing company that uses Humor to sell your product while showcasing your new phones. Your commercials are boring and do not demonstrate the real value behind Sprint: Your new 4G higher speed wireless network using WiMAX technology. It will allow customers to access cable broadband like speeds wirelessly. I don’t even work for your company but know more about what Sprint has to offer than your customer service reps or tech departments!

When the HD WideScreen Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 phone with a slide out qwerty keyboard, running the WinMo 6.0 OS comes out, I will probably cancel my account with Sprint and leave you unless you carry this phone. And then I will download www.skyfire.com beta web browser to surf the internet with a better browser than even Apple has on their iPhone. DEFINITELY contact this company and get this browser preinstalled on ALL of your phones. The skyfire browser is built partially off of the Mozilla browser and can read ALL types of web pages which WinMo’s mobile Explorer and Apple’s Safari’s browsers can’t at this time (and I am betting that SkyFire will be able to download all of the plugins developed for Mozilla for use on a cell phone).

I hope that you take heed in your customers desires and change your business model, otherwise, your company will either go under or get gobbled up by the competitors because Sprint is a global Tier 1 Internet carrier, and, as such, makes up a large portion of the Internet backbone. Verizon bought UUNET which at one point, was part of the MCI internet group. If someone such as myself, with no telecommunication management experience can figure out what your problems are and I don’t even work in the telecommunications industry, then your management and leadership from the Top Down must make the proper decisions and try not to DICTATE what phones your customers want. We (the customers) now dictate to the carriers what phones we want – and that means switching carriers, even if we have to give up certain benefits like your high speed internet access, which is starting to look less and less attractive when you consider every Starbucks has a WiFi spot set up for internet access, which makes your high speed network, obsolete.
]]>Jun 11th 2008 11:44PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/
One suggestion would be to summarize your main points and list them at the beginning. Synopses are more likely to be read first. And remember the letter is also more likely to be read and taken seriously if the tone is constructive and absent of threats or rants.

Also, have someone proof read your letter before you send it off. Spelling and grammar errors defeat what you are trying to accomplish.

Again, many legitimate concerns, but the execution could have been a bit better.]]>Jun 12th 2008 1:21AMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/
And, in my opinion, sprint does a pretty good job with their choice of devices (in relation to the US market). They have very good lowend device and very good high-end devices. Though, US carriers, as a whole, seem to underestimate the average American consumer. T-Mobile US launches the T-Mobile MDA (2.8 screen small qwerty keyboard) T-Mobile UK Launches the MDA Pro (3.5" rotating display, dual cameras, 500 + MHz processor, generous keyboard), but why? US carriers underestimating the US consumer. Until ATT took a chance and lauched the iPhone, where some people stood in lines for days the dish out 700 big ones for the device.

Oh, now US carriers get it, kind of. Though this device is a small step backward for Sprint devices, but the Diamond should bring them back up to par.
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Research so far shows fickle changes based on new big products (Iphone, Simply Everything) as this guy suggests, pretty fascinating. Anyone know why Verizon would jolt during the same quarter of the Iphone? hehehe]]>Jul 17th 2008 7:54PMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/
I do use Sprint for my only internet connection (Contrary to popular beleife Sprint is like 2 times faster than ATT in my area) And acually speed tests at work have proven my Sprit card to be faster than our T1 connection at work. I use T-Mobile for my voice service particualarly because they actually have "An unsupported phones department" (AWESMOME!). Besides that I would have went with Sprint, to consolidate my services, and because they're prices are unbeatable.

In response to the article, I'm a sprint fan, but this phone is WACK! (to me) I Can't wait for that Samsun i900 to change the face of mobile computing as we know it (ok maybe not that extreme]]>Jun 12th 2008 10:14AMhttp://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/http://mobile.engadget.com/2008/06/11/samsung-instinct-to-run-199-99-on-contract/Jun 20th 2008 5:42PM