Carrier Sprint Nextel announced today that its smart phone, the Samsung Instinct, will sell for $129.99
when it goes on sale Friday. The cheapest iPhone model, which reaches the public on July 11, sells for $199. It looks as though Sprint is hoping to compete with AT&T in the smart phone market by being cheaper and quicker to market.
The Instinct is similar to the new iPhone. It includes access to a fast wireless data network and a GPS receiver. Sprint worked closely with Samsung to develop the Instinct, and the carrier plans to spend quite a bit of money to promote the handset in the United States.
Earlier this year, Sprint hinted that the Instinct would cost over $200. Once Apple announced the price of the new iPhone, Sprint said it would match pricing. Today’s announcement, undercutting the iPhone by nearly $70, indicates that Sprint is willing to intensify the smart-phone competition.
Like the iPhone, a two year contract is required to buy the Instinct in the United States. The cheapest monthly plan has a cost close to $80 a month after taxes and fees. This makes the total contract price come in at about $1,900.
Big problem here…if you’re on any previous Sprint plan, you HAVE to change your plan to get this phone. And the plan, in nearly all cases, is much more expensive that what you probably had before.
I have 8 phones on my plan (been a Sprint customer for 10 years), and am getting too good of a deal to rock the boat. It sickens me that I can’t get this phone without paying $100 (at least) for it, on an entirely different plan than the rest of my phones are on.
And since that’s the case, I might as well just start a new plan on AT&T, pay the same, and just take my own phone off of my Sprint plan. No reason to get “iPhone light” when I can get the real thing for basically the same (big) cost.
Sprint overcharged my small (US) company for over $50,000.00. We caught
them doing it and now they refuse to refund the over-payments. You can
read the full story at http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com
I also wrote an open letter to Dan Hesse the Chairman and CEO of Sprint
Nextel. It is a good read so please consider reading the letter.
http://www.sprint-really-sucks.com/open-letter-dan-hesse.aspx