Oh, Sprint, you sneaky devil. The nation’s third-largest carrier just announced that it’s tacking on an extra monthly $10 “premium data” charge to its 3G Everything data plans — in effect, charging 3G phone owners the same total price that Evo and Epic owners pay now for 4G service. It’s especially weird because Sprint’s hidden the price increase in a press release entitled “Smartphones Drive Wireless Data Explosion” that initially appears to be about increased use of data before shifting abruptly into a defense of the additional charge and potshots at tiered data plans — we know no one wants to talk price increases, but let’s have some gumption, guys. Existing 3G Everything plan holders won’t see their rates go up until they “upgrade or activate another smartphone,” which doesn’t sound great for family plans, but we’ll get some clarification on that and let you know. Either way, we’d say picking up a non-4G Sprint phone just got real silly. PR after the break.
Sprint has announced that it will be adding a new $10 monthly Premium Data surcharge for users of smartphones from the end of January 2011, affecting all new subscribers. According to the carrier, it is “committed to providing its customers a great wireless experience now and in the future” and so has decided that the best way to do that is charge people more for it.
Featurephones, meanwhile, will escape the surcharge. There’s no definitive list of which handsets Sprint considers to be smartphones and which are featurephones, though we’re guessing Sprint will reveal that before implementing the price change on January 30.
Existing subscribers with smartphones won’t see their price plans affected – until they upgrade, of course – but for all Sprint’s talk of doubling smartphone penetration over the next four years, we can’t see this going down well. The carrier claims smartphone users are responsible for 10x more data traffic than those users of traditional phones.
Press Release:
Smartphones Drive Wireless Data Explosion
Sprint takes step to ensure customers continue to enjoy unlimited data while on the Sprint Network, without overages
Smartphone penetration is expected to double during the next four years.1
Market share for Google’s Android operating system grew by 23 percent last year alone.2
Mobile data traffic is forecast to double worldwide each year through 2014.3
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BUSINESS WIRE), January 18, 2011 – Today’s ability to do more things on the go – such as watching videos, sharing pictures or checking directions – is not only changing the way we live; it is driving exponential growth of mobile data traffic.
Sprint (NYSE: S) is committed to providing its customers a great wireless experience now and in the future. From its packed portfolio of innovative phones and devices to its leadership in introducing 4G services, to its consumer-friendly Everything Data plans, featuring unlimited text, Web and calling to any mobile phone, Sprint offers the best value in wireless.
Sprint will increase its postpaid rates by applying a $10 per month Premium Data add-on charge to activations of smartphones beginning Jan. 30. The charge will assist Sprint in offering simple and affordable unlimited plans for its customers while maintaining a wireless network able to meet the growing appetite for a richer mobile experience. Subscribers with smartphones will still receive the best value in wireless, including the Any Mobile, Anytime feature offered nationwide only by Sprint.
Sprint also offers a full range of traditional feature phones, including popular eco-friendly or touch-screen handsets that do not require the Premium Data add-on charge but still have a great range of capabilities with voice, text and data access. Existing Sprint smartphone customers are not affected unless they upgrade to or activate another smartphone.
“Sprint wants its customers to experience the range of entertainment and productivity possibilities available with today’s wireless technology,” said Bob H. Johnson, president of Sprint’s consumer business. “While some of our competitors impose overage charges and complex plans, Sprint continues to provide a worry-free, unlimited data experience while on the Sprint network. This is responsible, sustainable and reflects our commitment to simplicity and value.”
“Sprint’s decision to apply the Premium Data add-on charge to activations of smartphones going forward recognizes the enhanced user experience that today’s smartphones deliver, which, in turn, drives substantially higher data usage and cost,” said Roger Entner, analyst and founder of Recon Analytics.
“Building, maintaining and expanding wireless data networks isn’t free – there are real costs involved. In effect, Sprint has chosen to increase the price of its unlimited Everything Data plans, which is still below that of its major competitors, for the segment of customers – smartphone users – who are using wireless data the most and are driving up costs. Consumers have many choices. They can choose unlimited, worry-free data plans on the Sprint network or they can have tiered, metered plans and overage charges with other wireless carriers.”
Smartphone customers use, on average, 10 times more data than users of traditional feature phones. Smartphone users have access to more data capabilities, applications and other functionality than traditional feature phones. Examples include access to thousands of applications and games through online marketplaces and full HTML Web browsing with Adobe Flash technology that allows users to browse the Internet on their devices just like they can at home or in the office.
Sprint defines smartphones as devices with robust operating systems that deliver a rich wireless experience by bringing the full function of mobile applications and programs to life, including Blackberry, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, and the Instinct family of devices. The Premium Data add-on charge previously applied to HTC EVO 4G, HTC EVO Shift 4G and Samsung Epic 4G devices.
“Sprint continues to be the carrier for people who want to do more than just talk with their wireless devices,” said Johnson. “Customer growth on our 3G and 4G networks, exponential increases in the use of mobile data applications, and the growing use of smartphones is proof that consumers are getting the message.
“Sprint’s unlimited data plans, with or without the $10 charge, continue to beat the offerings of our top national competitors, who cap users’ data, charge data overages, and do not offer the unique functionality of Any Mobile, Anytime, which gives subscribers on the Sprint network unlimited calling to any other wireless user in America regardless of carrier.”
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 48.8 million customers at the end of the third quarter of 2010 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, Common Cents Mobile and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 6 in its 2010 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
1 Heavy Reading, Assessment of Sprint’s Network Vision Initiative, by Berge Ayvazian, Dec. 10, 2010.
2 Ibid.
3 Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2009-2014.
Motorola’s i886 for Sprint’s IDEN network featuring both landscape QWERTY and standard numeric keypads bowed during CES a few days back for $79.99 after $50 rebate on a two-year contract — and as we’d observed a while back when we first saw the user’s manual, it runs a pretty convincing Android clone UI. Turns out, though, it’s less of a clone than you might think: Phone Scoop has discovered that the i886 — which doesn’t have a touchscreen — is actually running real Android (albeit without the Android Market) accompanied by generic J2ME like you’d find on your average dumbphone. If we had to guess, Motorola took advantage of Android’s status as a free, open-source platform here, tailoring it for the i886′s needs without worrying about the normal Google certification process that would’ve earned them Market access — and given the lack of a touchscreen, we’re sure they wouldn’t have been able to earn it anyway. From Moto’s perspective, it seems like a good way to get a proven, familiar platform without a lot of engineering effort — they can toss their proprietary platforms and save a little bit of cash in the process. Follow the break for Phone Scoop‘s video of the i886 in action.
Some industrious hackers have created a port of the Meizu M9 ROM for the HTC EVO 4G, bringing a little KIRF flavor to Sprint’s favorite jumbo phone. The port is still in the developmental stages, but most of the M9 functionality appears to already be working, with only the port from GSM to CDMA and tweaks to screen resolution left to do. After a little spit-shine to make sure the build is stable, EVO owners can finally see what the Meizu M9 fuss is all about without having to actually buy one. Of course, why you’d actually want to do this to your perfectly functional Android phone is a question that may never truly find a legitimate answer.
Look, if you buy a carrier-branded Android handset, you should know good and well that you may never see the first Android update. It ain’t easy to hear, but as mama always said, the truth ain’t always painless. That said, there’s still some research you should do before picking a phone and carrier, and ComputerWorld has seemingly done just that for you. The methodology is all explained down in the source link, but the long and short of it is this: in the last half of 2010, Verizon upgraded 33 percent of its sub-2.2 phones to Froyo, while Sprint updated just 28.6 percent of its stable and T-Mobile blessed only 12.5 percent of its phones with the new digs. AT&T bashers should take note, as Ma Bell didn’t update a single one of its nine Android phones during the June-December 2010 time period. Yeah, ouch. Over on the handset side, we’ve got HTC gifting half of its devices with Froyo, while Motorola comes in second with 15.4 percent and Samsung third with 11.1 percent. No matter how you slice it, it’s a depressing study to look at, and it probably makes your decision to skip over a Nexus One seem all the more idiotic in retrospect. But hey, at least there’s the Nexus S to console you… if you’re willing to sign up with T-Mob, that is.
What now, Verizon? Just a few days after Big Red lowered the price of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab to $500 off-contract, Sprint’s version has shed $100 — which means you can now score it for $300 on a two-year deal. As long as you’re willing to put your name on the dotted line, that now means that Sprint can put you into a Tab for less money than anyone but regional carrier US Cellular, which offers it for a bargain-basement $200. Interestingly, Sprint’s shift comes on the heels of an LTE-tweaked version of the Tab for Verizon with a faster processor and better camera, suggesting that a WiMAX model could definitely be in the works these guys — which might be what this “industry first” event is all about early next month. Pure speculation on our part, but it’d make some sense.
Update: US Cellular wrote in to let us know that the $200 promotion on its version of the Tab has actually expired — now, you get two for the price of one at $399 after a $100 mail-in rebate. In other words, if you just want a single Tab, Sprint’s the best deal in town right now.
The invites are pouring in. We’ve already heard from Verizon, and we’ve still got HP’s webOS announcement around the corner, but it looks like Sprint wants to get into the madness as well. We’ve received an invitation to an invite-only event on February 7th, where Sprint’s CEO Dan Hesse will be on hand to unveil something.
This particular invite has “master illusionist” David Blaine on the front of it, where the man will be on hand for something. We’re not sure how it relates to whatever Sprint is announcing, but considering the “See what Sprint has up its sleeve” line at the top, we’re assuming that the carrier believes they’re about to pull a magic trick in the wireless industry.
Speculation about a Sprint iPhone is already picking up speed, along with the fact that there could be 4G tucked away inside. We know that Apple chose not to go with 4G for their Verizon device because of modifications to the device that they were not prepared to make, so it would indeed be a magic trick for Sprint to land the first 4G-enabled iPhone. Though, it’s probably more likely that the carrier has another Android-related announcement to make, which makes the “another industry first” part quite interesting.
Anyone want to take a guess as to what Sprint has ready to announce?
We’re here at the Verizon event in New York city and whilst pondering the decisions made for the iPhone 4 being on Verizon with no 4G LTE connectedness, we are also setting our minds to another point — there was a question about the CDMA being exclusive to Verizon and the answer was no! The agreement between Verizon and Apple on this phone is a multi-year non-exclusive agreement. What does that mean? We’ve got a bit of a hunch – six letters and another big company away, what do you think about a Sprint iPhone 4? And what does that mean for the exclusiveness of Apple?
As you might already be aware, Apple has basically blasted off into space over the past few years with production and cashing in on their closed model brand and stores. Does this non-exclusive deal portend the future of a larger range and openness of both brand and network? Or is it just a bigger spread for the sales of the closed set of products?
Also keep in mind that the only reason this Verizon iPhone 4 doesn’t have 4G LTE speeds running on it is the fact that Apple refused to move in any direction on the design of the phone’s hardware, giving Verizon no choice but to release the phone on their already-fully-functional 3G network.
Every CES has its unofficial theme – we’ve seen netbooks and ereaders flood the booths in previous years – and 2011 was the turn of tablets. As predicted before the show, the rise of the iPad, the imminent release of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and the promise of a new, lucrative segment has worked like catnip to manufacturers large and small. Check out the SlashGear CES 2011 tablet roundup after the cut.
We’ve been tracking Notion Ink since late 2009, and this year had the chance to see what’s so exciting about the company’s Adam tablet. The one Android-based slate on show that didn’t have to apologize for running something earlier than Honeycomb, Adam’s key strength is its awesome Eden UI and multitasking system. Our hands-on videos show it best, but considering this tiny start-up has managed to do what has pretty much escaped Microsoft for the past decade, it’s very promising.
Motorola’s XOOM is another slate with great promise, and its debut on Verizon this quarter – along with a 4G model in Q2 – is already getting people excited. Like Adam, the XOOM runs NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset – you can find more about what that means in our Super Phone hub – and while it will be one of the first tablets to give us an official glimpse of Honeycomb, it also packs a few copy-worthy features. For instance, Motorola has designed the XOOM’s modem as modular, so that the 3G version it will launch with can be easily upgraded to a 3G/4G version later on; that will hopefully make international 3G/4G launches more straightforward as well.
T-Mobile has a 4G tablet of its own, in the shape of the HSPA+ capable G-Slate by LG. The most mysterious of the carrier-provided options, there’s not much known about the G-Slate beyond its Android 3.0 OS and 10-inch display. T-Mobile preferred to spend its time talking about the new Dell Streak 7, the long-rumored 7-inch sibling to the original Streak. Unfortunately it won’t be able to take advantage of the full speeds on offer as T-Mobile doubles its HSPA+ network to support up to 42Mbps, being limited to 21Mbps instead, but with Dell’s heft behind it we wouldn’t count it out.
Perhaps our biggest surprise of the show was how strong an option RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook is shaping up to be. A step away from the Android crowds, the PlayBook’s QNX-based OS and dual-core TI OMAP4430 chipset single it out as a very capable contender, with a UI that bridges the larger screen size and the traditional BlackBerry interface well, and lashings of processing grunt on tap. It too will have a 4G option, courtesy of a launch on Sprint’s WiMAX network. Perhaps it was RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis’ enthusiasm rubbing off as he personally demo’d the slate to us, but the PlayBook looks like it could end up part of the iPad’s strongest competition.
RIM BlackBerry PlayBook demo:
While the slate form-factor has been the most common, ASUS and Samsung took a risk and opted for sliders in their tablet ranges. The ASUS Eee Pad Slider and Samsung Sliding PC 7 don’t show much imagination in their names but have enough to differentiate themselves in their hardware, each packing a full QWERTY keyboard for those who want the finger-friendliness of a touchscreen but also want to do some serious text entry. Beyond that similarity, though, the prospects are very different. Samsung opted for an Intel Oak Trail processor and Windows 7, promising full desktop functionality for those who care about it, but running the risk of underwhelming mobile battery life and having to reskin the OS with its own Touch Launcher UI. ASUS, meanwhile, opted for Android 3.0 Honeycomb running on Tegra 2, a far more mobility-friendly decision but potentially lacking the “grown up” software flexibility of the Samsung.
Though hardware has been brimming over with Tegra 2 and other dual-core chipsets, the software side of things has suffered. We asked for intelligent ecosystems, tablets that fit into a more comprehensive system of media, hardware and connectivity, and few delivered. Vizio’s VIA Tablet and Phone look to have come the closest, coupling integration with the company’s smart TVs and cross-device access to things like streaming media and OnLive gaming, but it’s something the big names have failed to deliver on. That’s going to make positioning their devices in the market all the more difficult; Apple gets a lot of criticism for its relatively closed-garden approach, but it also does a very good job at putting the iPad into context with the rest of the iTunes ecosystem. Rivals are going to have to learn to do more than produce lengthy spec sheets if they want mainstream buyers to slot another mobile device into their lives.
There have been a few notable absences at this year’s show, too. HTC continues to get name-checked in the Honeycomb tablet rumors, but failed to show anything more than smartphones at CES 2011. Worse still, the company was overshadowed by Motorola’s ATRIX 4G, with its clever laptop-style docking station. We’ll be looking to MWC 2011 in February to see if HTC can redeem itself there.
Motorola ATRIX 4G demo:
HP and the promised webOS slate was also conspicuous by its absence, and the surprise reveal we’d half-hoped for in the run up to CES failed to materialize. We’re yet to see an attention-grabber like Palm’s Pre debut a few years back, and interest in the company’s smartphone line-up continues to wane. Hopefully something suitably groundbreaking will show up at the HP webOS event on February 9. Microsoft, too, was tipped to be putting greater software emphasis on touch computing, but instead gave the Windows-faithful – both among users and manufacturers – little to smile about. The rumoured Windows 8 preview never transpired, and Windows-on-ARM got more keynote attention by CEO Steve Ballmer. That might have seemed the ideal opportunity to talk UI, but Microsoft didn’t cash in.
The absent spectre looming over all the tablets at CES 2011 was the second-gen iPad. Rivals have had a year to ready their alternatives, but Apple hasn’t been standing still in the meantime; the iPad 2 is rumored to be unveiled as early as this month, and while it may not have the all-singing, all-dancing tech specs of some hardware we’ve seen in the past week, it will have a solid user-base, well-stocked App Store and gobfuls of brand appeal to build upon. Factor in that many of the big-name slates are waiting on Honeycomb, against Apple’s ability to announce a new device and then ship very soon after, and the iPad 2 could well be repeating its predecessor’s sales success imminently. 2011 is most definitely the year of the tablet, but that’s the only certainty in what’s turning out to be a volatile segment.
