Sprint in deep trouble? Sanyo ditching cell phones

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Sprint in deep trouble? Sanyo ditching cell phones

January 21st, 2008 by scaredpoet

UPDATE: Oh heavens! It’s Sprint fanboy drama! View comments to see what the cat dragged in.

Well, it hasn’t been a great couple of weeks for Sprint, a US cell carrier that can count me as one of its numerous defectors over the past couple of years. Back when the Sprint Nextel merger was first hashed out, I (and other, more clear-thinking, non-merger happy people) predicted there would be problems. Looks like we were right.

Last week, Sprint dropped the bomb: while every other cell company in the US gained customers, Sprint managed to somehow lose around 638,000 of them during the holiday season. So in response, they’re going to make it HARDER to sign up: close 125 stores, and layoff about 4,000 people, mostly in retail and customer service operations.

If that doesn’t take some mad skillz, then consider this: about six months ago, Sprint dumped about 1,000 customers, on purpose. Because, you know, they were just too much to handle, calling in too much to have their billing issues resolved, or roaming too much because they happened to be in coverage holes within Sprint’s nationwide network. And can you blame Sprint? I mean, really, the nerve of these people to want to get their billing problems corrected, or to actually expect to be able to make phone calls. Right?

Well, customer service issues aside, one of the problems Sprint has had lately is poor phone selection and lack of variety. Sure, the latest Palm OS 5 PDA was awesome and state of the art in 2002, but rolling out the same PDA running the exact same OS in a repackaged form factor 6 years later starts to get a little old. So is selling the RAZR two years after everyone else had it, but only after two commissioned copycat models failed in the marketplace.

Now, Sprint’s problems are about to get worse: Sanyo, one of Sprint’s long-time suppliers of cell phones, has been in financial trouble for a while now, and is selling off their cell phone unit to Kyocera.

This might not be any worse than the current situation, considering Sanyo hasn’t really come out with a decent phone since… well, about 2002. Funny how Sprint’s network is so state of the art, but the phones haven’t been top notch in 6 about years, eh? But unfortiunately, Kyocera isn’t known for innovation much. I mean most peeople hail the iPhone as a crowning achievement in industrial design. Kyocera’s contribution? This…

Strobe

That’s right. Who want’s a touch screen, WiFi or an advanced linux/unix-based OS, when you can have a nylon strap and a carabiner bolted to the top of your clunky phone? Eh?! Eh?! 🙂

So yeah, Sprint is in deep shit right now, which is a real shame. Even ignoring the whole Nextel mess, Sprint is not in good shape, and I worry that it might not even continue to do business by the end of ’08.

By the way: In researching photos for this article, I came across this great review of the Treo 300 in 2002. Of course the Treo 300 isn’t nearly as advanced and cool today, but one photo on the site does send a rather ironic subtle message about the current state of Palm OS technology:

treo cassette

Yeah, that’s about right.

6 Responses

CrazedPenguin writes:
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:51 am

It’s the snazzy new rock-climbing accessory. Keep in touch with your loved ones as you scale mountains. Seriously, the possibilities are unlimited.
Gen Patton writes:
February 4th, 2008 at 2:09 am

Wow!
Never even knew there was SO much deception on the internet.
A: Sprint is not anywhere near as bad as you say they are.
B: Sanyo makes great phones.
C: Where you one of the non paying customers they dropped?
Gen Patton writes:
February 4th, 2008 at 2:09 am

Oh forgot.
That Sanyo logo is copyrighted.
Consider yourself warned.
scaredpoet writes:
February 4th, 2008 at 8:03 am

Dear “Mr. Patton,”

My, what a Sprint fanboy you appear to be! For what it’s worth:

1. No, I was not a non-paying customer that Sprint dropped. I fact, my monthly cell bill usually exceeds ARPU every month, meaning I was quite profitable. And I paid it on time, every time, from 1997 through 2006. I left because Sprint was inept at customer service. And I GLADLY paid a termination fee to do so.

2. You haven’t been reading the news lately, have you? All you have to do is click the links, buddy, the news is right there. Sprint is the only US wireless company who has managed to consistently lose customers last year and widen its gap between #1 and #2 carriers. And whether you feel Sanyo has made good phones or not is your opinion. Just like this blog is… well, my opinion! And I happen to think you’re wrong. My site, I win. Funny how that works, isn’t it?

3. The use of low-resolution images for non-commercial purposes, of logos for certain uses involving identification and critical commentary qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law. Attempts to bully me or stifle my commentary by threatening me with some vague, ambiguous copyright complaint is certainly not appreciated. But since it seems to give you such butt-hurt that the logo is there, I’ll make appropriate modifications, JUST FOR YOU. 😀

By the way: the relevant trademark law here is US Code Title 15, Chapter 22, Subchapter III, § 1125. The categorical exemptions on “(B) Noncommercial use of a mark,” and “(C) All forms of news reporting and news commentary,” applies.

4. Do you WORK for Sprint? I doubt you do, seeing as you’ve posted your drivel from an IP address in Canada. Maybe you work for Sanyo, considering you came to my site after going to Google and typing the words “sANYO IN TROUBLE” evidently with your Caps Lock turned on. But clearly you have some strange vested interest here in the welfare of these companies, or at least against anyone with a negative outlook. I’m sorry your company is going down the tubes, but my little article isn’t the cause, simply the effect. Perhaps you should find better, more rewarding things to do than defend a faceless corporation with poor management earning fat paychecks.
Onezumi writes:
February 4th, 2008 at 8:56 am

Oh noes. Don’t tazer meh Sprintz, bro. I keep it in meh paaaaantsuuu. ;D
CrazedPenguin writes:
February 6th, 2008 at 9:50 am

I was actually willing to make an educated argument against the second and third comments, but my nature as an English major and, more appropriately credited for this, my tendency to be an asshole prevents that.

Where he one of the non paying customers dropped, you ask.

Also, crappy troll is crappy.

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