Sprint to release the BlackBerry Niagara this quarter?
We know how hard it must be for Sprint BlackBerry users considering that Sprint missed out on recent handsets like the Storm and Bold. Sprint hasn’t even issued OS 4.5 yet but as the saying goes, “good things come to those who wait.” If you believe this latest rumor, a very good thing is on its way to the black and yellow land of Sprint — the Niagara. A CDMA variant of the Bold with updated looks to compliment the styling queues of the 8900 and Storm, the Niagara features all of the goodies one could hope for: full-QWERTY keypad, 480 x 360 display, EV-DO Rev. A, aGPS, WiFi and a 3.2 megapixel camera. We even hear that there might be HSPA world-roaming (wouldn’t that be swell?). If the rumor pans out, it would certainly give Sprint a much needed shot in the arm. But then again, Verizon would probably just come in after a short period of time and wreck the party.
Backseat – Sprint isn’t going anywhere – BUT UP.
You are completely ignoring the fact that Sprint has been cleaning up internally for the past year.
A lot of internal moves and other moves – One of these moves was them kicking a certain amount of customers out on purpose (sub prime – who can’t pay their bills). This contributed to Churn numbers and overall losses.
Customer service jumped from last to first in less than a year after Hesse came in.
many investments have been made to network strength and other things.
NOT TO MENTION, the merger between Sprint and Clearwire, which had a 3 Billion dollar investment from Google, Intel, Time Warner and a few others. Why? Because they see the potential in Sprint’s plan for a nationwide WiMax 4G network with Clearwire.
Why do you think Google, Intel and Time Warner are investing in Sprint’s merger? You act like you’re a business guru – take a guess. Because Sprint/Clearwire 4G wireless chips will be in all new Intel laptops. Google will have a big part in all future products. And Sprint’s 4G rivals DSL and Cable in SPEED and bandwidth – so Time Warner is going to sell it as an alternative to land line internet.
This will all be happening while Verizon and AT&T spend all their money on marketing BS – while they’re not even going to be upgrading their 3G networks for another 2 years (LGE isn’t coming out for 2 years).
So don’t let one quarter’s numbers fool you.
@CheerleaderGuru who said “You are completely ignoring the fact that Sprint has been cleaning up internally for the past year.”
Where’s the beef outside your empty claims? Numbers! This is business. Numbers are all that matter despite your koolade-soaked cheerleading on behalf of Sprint. Get it?! You have none? Why is that? obviously, you cannot get past the fact that it has been over 2 years since Sprint has had a “successful” quarter, so give the misrepresentation a rest, kid. The remainder of your post is about Sprint’s tree-trimming to appeal to potential suiters [read: buyout], _not_ about serving the customer.
What color is the sky in your world?
Numbers are Skewed- or are you so ridiculously self-righteous that you didn’t even read that part? They purposefully let go of a bunch of sub-prime customers as part of the clean up…
“The credit mix of acquisitions has improved for four consecutive quarters, and prime customers represent almost 83% of the post-paid base.”
You forgot these numbers:
* Free Cash Flow* of $1.1 billion in the quarter
* Cash balance of $4.1 billion at the end of the quarter
* In November 2008, the company renegotiated the terms of its revolving credit facility and increased the ratio of total indebtedness to trailing four quarters earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and certain other non-recurring charges from no more than 3.5 to 1.0 to no more than 4.25 to 1.0. The company also paid down $1 billion of outstanding debt and decreased the current borrowing capacity of the credit facility from $6 billion to $4.5 billion, of which $1.3 billion is available.
Hurting? Yes. Going anywhere? No.
Preparing for a comeback.
Numbers are Skewed- or are you so ridiculously self-righteous that you didn’t even read that part? They purposefully let go of a bunch of sub-prime customers as part of the clean up…
“The credit mix of acquisitions has improved for four consecutive quarters, and prime customers represent almost 83% of the post-paid base.”
You forgot these numbers:
* Free Cash Flow* of $1.1 billion in the quarter
* Cash balance of $4.1 billion at the end of the quarter
* In November 2008, the company renegotiated the terms of its revolving credit facility and increased the ratio of total indebtedness to trailing four quarters earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization and certain other non-recurring charges from no more than 3.5 to 1.0 to no more than 4.25 to 1.0. The company also paid down $1 billion of outstanding debt and decreased the current borrowing capacity of the credit facility from $6 billion to $4.5 billion, of which $1.3 billion is available.
Hurting? Yes. Going anywhere? No.
Preparing for a comeback. And you still didn’t address the Clearwire Merger – which WILL make noise once it’s rolled out nationally.
Oh, and the only thing being misrepresented is your self-proclaimed prophecy.
If you knew anything about business, you’d know that there is such thing as a turnaround. And it will happen. Turnarounds don’t happen in one year with a new CEO.
Again, you are ignoring the fact that Mr. Hesse has only been there one year.
It ain’t going anywhere but UP. And the strength of its technologies will win out in due time. And you’ll be dead silent.
Rah, Rah, sister!
Where cash flow and balance are concerned, the figures may sound impressive to an untrained eye, but not within the big picture which includes their sea of red and competition. Another swwwwing and a miss, kiddo.
Their renegotiated credit _was_ a bailout.
**”The credit mix of acquisitions has improved for four consecutive quarters, and prime customers represent almost 83% of the post-paid base.”** If you knew anything about your cut-n-paste hack job, you’d recognize tree-trimming for merger/acquisition purposes when you saw it. You’re being cut-off from the Koolade punchbowl, junior. You can’t even read a straight line, much less walk one.
I’m not trying to rationalize any of this, just saying until there’s an announcement that Sprint’s doors have closed they offer the most for the least. You taking a crap on all post or articles that isn’t in line with you shows your maturity level, continuing to report the quarterly #’s w/o the subsequent consumer reports shows your bias and nothing else
Consumer reports showing satisfaction? How are those numbers reliable or repeatable when the 1.3M who left the carrier during a single quarter cannot be/were not included? Where’s the level playing field … or is the field of statistics simply too complex? No bias. Just antibullshit … There’s a difference.
Why do u think sprint is going under? Sprints CS is now one of the best ,there service imo is great in my area,and the price plans great.i cant wait for the new blackberry….im still waiting for 4.5OS…lol..but you will see sprint will be around 4 a long time.
Keep talking smack mr Backseat. You’re condescending tone is hilarious, and probably is compensation for your lack of something else (you can guess that one).
First off, you don’t know who I am – and I’ll be laughing when the turnaround happens.
Not everything is black and white. Especially in regards to your numbers that you take so much as gospel.
And no, you haven’t been reading consumer reports – if you did, you’d know otherwise.
But since you pretty much think you’re a prophet, there’s no use in arguing.
I’ll be laughing when you’re wrong
Have a nice day.
@MobileWannabe who said: “First off, you don’t know who I am” …
Lastly, I have no reason to care. Sweet puppydog and fairydust dreams, Precious.
I was speaking of all the most recent consumer reports, not Consumer Reports which poll current customer so there’s no need to poll those that left because the departure is a vote in itself. The condescending tone of your post is what is laughable, it has more to do with being satisfied with Sprint than your adolescent attempts to encourage the remaining subs to leave based on your supreme knowledge
Balance and objectivity. Look into it and who knows … Maybe the Cause & Effect of stuffed-shirt, pompous cheerleader (not necessarily you) won’t be met in-kind.
So..backbeat boy, who would acquired Sprint? Would Verizon or ATT who are barely larger at 60 or 70 million subscibers whatever the figure is? Every smaller carrier is regional and not capable and the merging would be by definition Sprint acquiring them. So, who oh great one has appeared in your puppydog and fairydust dreams to rise up and acquire Sprint?
It would make total sense for the CDMA 8900 variant to include both EVDO Rev A and Global HSPA/EDGE. Let’s not forget that BlackBerry is still a very popular business device, and currently the only QWERTY BlackBerry “worldphone” offered by Sprint/Verizon is the aging 8830. If businesses are asking Big Red/Big Yellow for a new QWERTY BlackBerry with global 3G and Wifi, they will listen.
Where are the CDMA BB’s that support DOrA ptt? In two months and 3 weeks we’ll find out if the Q1 ‘09 is on point and who will be the 1st with it, that flip one too.
^ Is that before or after the missed target date for WiMAX in Chicago being pushed back to 2H09? Disappointment and delay after delay don’t suit investors well.
As Zach reported: “As WiMAX continues to dwell in Baltimore with a stunning lack of extended interest or supported devices, Sprint’s golden boy has failed to make an appearance as scheduled in Chicago. Sprint’s goal of launching WiMAX in Chicago by year-end 2008 seemed perfectly attainable”.
Keeping millions rolled into money-pit technologies that no one needs and Sprint cannot support doesn’t suit investors either.
Besides, the microscopic niche of the market you’re describing matters not to anyone but present Sprint customers. Those who remain anyway.
Just couldn’t help yourself, eh cheerleader?
I will ignore and move on, really hope these are here this quarter. Since the majority of the att are disclaiming the defective stuff floating around which leaves me to believe this is going to be an cool device, most of the CDMA phones perform better than the GSM counterpart
^ You’re talking [read: cheerleading] to yourself … again.
it,s true they are testing the new 4g network in baltimore
I don’t care about that 4g mess, mostly because I’m in Chicago, just want more good phones to choose from. Not just smartphone or otherwise, was about to aquire the Instinct til talk of an Android Instinct surfaced
No kidding Sprint!…I just left and now you do this!
I really like the GSM Bold form factor and leather back. I don’t understand why RIM would make the CDMA Bold look so different. The Curve, 8800 and Pearl are all the same form factor across all carriers. Why would the Bold be any different?
They have to open it up to be on Sprint, if anything it will be better. I’m talking about hardware and software, cosmetically I could care less
Frankly, I think the form factor of the 8900 is fantastic except for the keyboard which is a little tight. This Niagara design is just like the 8900, only with the Bold keypad. I don’t think RIM could have come up with a better design. The bold is bulky and sort of feels cheap in person with the faux leather backing and cheap plastic “chrome” on the edge.
Since I’m not the most technical, can someone tell me what HSPA world roaming means? Does that mean despite being a CDMA device, it will work on the networks in Europe which as almost exclusively GSM?