 |
Sprint Prepaid Phones - What's wrong with Sprint's prepaid strategy!?
Getting Sprint Prepaid Phones by
Going
With an MVNO
Sprint partners with literally
dozens of MVNOs,
which are basically third party
companies/brands that buy wholesale minutes from Sprint. Check
out the MVNO
section for more details on this topic. Virgin
Mobile is a good example of a classic MVNO on the Sprint network.
So, if you want the benefit of Sprint's coverage, you can
seek
out one of their prepaid MVNOs. You will, however, want to
keep in mind
the
following limitations:
- The plans won't
look anything like Sprint postpaid plans
- The
phone selection is extremely limited compared to what's available on a
Sprint postpaid plan
- You won't
find high end smart phones like the Palm Pre, HTC products, or
Blackberries (yet!)
- Customer
service is completely different (that could be a good or bad thing
depending on the MVNO)
- You
won't have access to highspeed EVDO-RevA services
That
said, if you're simply looking for a good, reliable voice and text
service on the Sprint network, you have plenty of options from which to
choose, and some MVNOs may even allow you to use your old postpaid
Sprint phone if you're lucky.
Is the Strategy for Sprint
Prepaid Phones a Good One?
Absolutely
not! Their
strategic approach to prepaid is pretty weak in my opinion.
Ok,
maybe that sounds a little harsh; let me explain what I mean before you
think I'm completely nuts! And remember that this is only my
opinion, and I welcome your comments on the topic. Also, lets
first state what their strategic approach actually is so that we're all
on the same page. I'll make a statement that I believe to be
the
case from I've seen in the marketplace, interviews, and articles
written about the topic surrounding their positioning:
"Sprint's
prepaid brand is Boost Mobile." Simple enough, but it speaks
volumes!
The evolution of how the Boost
brand came to be
incorporated into the Sprint Nextel organization made a lot of sense.
It was logical and rational, and flowed just fine.
But
let's consider the following when evaluating whether this makes sense
in
today's environment:
- Did Boost sell well
when it was a joint
venture with Nextel because of the Boost brand, or due to a pent up
demand for a prepaid Nextel product? - I say people just
wanted
prepaid Nextel, and that they would have sold just as many phones in a
white box labeled "Prepaid Nextel." What do you think?
- After
the evolution of the
Boost brand over the years to expand its demographic
from action
sports and hip hop to more mainstream America, do people buy Boost
today (which does quite well actually!) because of the brand?
- I
say people buy it because of the value of the plans and could care less
about the brand. In fact, I would argue that the brand could
be
seen as a negative point of their service as they try to appear cool,
when people are really just looking for a good, reliable, well price
prepaid cellular product. What are your thoughts?
- Would
people happily buy a Sprint prepaid offering? - I say yes,
absolutely.
To learn more about Sprint prepaid
phones and their prepaid strategy, click the following links.
Or Jump To:
Compare Prepaid Wireless Plans
Return from Sprint Prepaid Phones to Sprint Prepaid Cellular Phones
|
|
