Over a year ago, Sprint released the new set of “Everything” service plans to go along with the release of the Samsung Instinct. The new plans allowed users to play with every feature their phone was capable of without incurring any additional fees (Sprint TV, GPS, picture messaging, sms, data, Blackberry service, the works). Charging only $99 for the Simply Everything all-included plan (which includes even unlimited minutes), this is much less than it would cost for the same features elsewhere.
The problem is, they didn’t give Instinct buyers any choice. If you want an Instinct, you MUST get an Everything plan. They won’t even allow the device to be activate on any other plan.
There hasn’t been any official explanation for the policy, but in some strange sort of way, this made some sense… The original Instinct was supposed to directly combat the original iPhone on AT&T, and the big selling point for Sprint was that it could do things the iPhone could not at the time (3G, Voice Control, turn-by-turn GPS, etc). Without paying for those features, however, the Instinct was just a touch screen phone that lost in style and UI to the iPhone. In order to get noticed, its possible Sprint wanted every Instinct user to be able to show off how much “better” their device and service was.
Fast forward to today- Palm’s new Pre, and another Instinct (S30) is now running on Sprint’s network, and all of them require the Everything Plan.
That’s right, unless you want to pay for all the trimmings on your new Palm Pre, you can’t have one. Even if you’ve been using a Treo as a PDA for the last decade or so on a regular basic 200 minute plan, you aren’t eligible to even pay full price for the new Palm phone!
Now, that doesn’t seem fair… Ok, so the Instinct was supposed to target possible iPhone buyers, but Palm already has a large loyal user base, many of whom have been on the same old plan for years. Maybe they don’t want GPS, unlimited text or even Data… they never had them before, why would you force them to pay for it? For their own good?
Since when is it a requirement that every feature should be enabled on a phone? Imagine if they required every RAZR to pay for GPS Telenav service, even if the user already owns an in-dash GPS for their car! This hardly seems logical.
I personally have seen many people who had Sprint for a long time, and after years of adding features to their grandfathered plans, finally have a plan that they are happy with and want to stick with. Some of these folks were very excited about the Palm Pre until it was announced they would have to give up their old plan that fit like a glove, and take on a new one that required features they don’t want or need. These people were turned away, and Sprint missed a potential boatload of renewed contracts.
The effect? Sprint reported a rather disturbing financial loss this quarter, citing that they lost many customers. I very strongly believe that Sprint could have kept a significant amount of subscribers if they had the option to resigned their current contract for a hot phone instead of leaving them out to wander elsewhere.
Even stranger still is that Sprint is not consistent with the policy… Currently, only the Instinct and Pre require Everything plans, while other smartphones such as the Diamond and Touch Pro running Windows Mobile (which came out after the Instinct) do not. Strange, since Windows Mobile rivals the other two platforms in features, and adds some more on top of it.
Meanwhile, current subscribers are wondering how Sprint will view the new Android handsets promised this quarter. Will they enforce the everything plan like the Instinct and Pre? Or will they leave it open like Windows Mobile, since Android is not exclusive to Sprint? Remember, users can buy a G1 or MyTouch on T-Mobile without having to add a special expensive plan, so if someone doesn’t want to pay for the services on Sprint but wants the phone, what would they do?
For their sake, I hope they don’t enforce the new plans.
September 3rd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
It also may have something to do with combatting the iPhone…
Certain phones are marketed at combating the iPhone and some are just not.
Many consumers bought into the price drop of the iPhone- at $199, the new models are a STEAL!
What consumers don’t always realize is that the iPhone plans cost more, and in the end they usually paid more than a “boring” smartphone would have cost for the year.
Yet, they think they are getting a “bargain” because the initial price is far less up front.
It would appear that Sprint is trying to emulate that very pricing model and attract (dupe?) the same type of customers- by offering a very low priced handsets up front, and requiring a certain higher priced minimum plan.
Windows Mobile does not really combat the iPhone, and neither does the Blackberry series, which is why those haven’t fallen under this new policy. That is why the Touch Pro 2 may cost $350, whereas the new HTC Hero (announced today) is under $200.
I do hope that I’m wrong since I’d love to have more options on my plan without being forced to upgrade, but with the Hero starting at such a low price compared to the TP2, its got me wondering.
I hope I’m wrong, we’re all waiting rather patiently as only Sprint will be able to tell us for sure.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:56 am
[...] you can still only get a Pre with one of Sprint’s Simply Everything Plans, a fact that causes Mordy to violently foam at the mouth and myself to weep openly. However, for those out there who really wanted a Sprint Instinct (all [...]
September 17th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
This ridiculous policy, and the fact that MOST people DON’T use their phones for business purposes, is simply amazing to me. We Americans have become the biggest bunch of sheep out there. I refuse to buy a so-called “smartphone” because I am too dumb to be forced to pay for something I may not need nor want. Imagine if Toyota said that you HAD to buy their gas if you bought one of their cars. Simply amazing…..
November 1st, 2009 at 9:40 pm
[...] when Sprint started requiring folks to give up their old grandfathered plans in favor of more expensive ones for new “popular” handsets? As we pointed out then, [...]
November 8th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Fantastic post! wonderful blog