Prepaid Wireless Tracker -
September 2011
Issue
Hi,
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from firsthand experience working in the prepaid wireless industry.
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Prepaid Wireless Market Hits a
Snag
CNET
(blog)
Yes, prepaid wireless results in Q2 were disappointing across the
board, and even lower
than
projected, however, to report doom and gloom for the prepaid wireless
industry
is simply irresponsible reporting in my opinion.
The media really has become so sensationalist
that it’s becoming somewhat irritating.
Even more than that, the media can actual drive consumer
opinions and
confidence, which can lead to changes in buying behaviors, and in
itself affect
the economy. Anyway,
prepaid wireless
isn’t going anywhere, and growth will certainly continue for years to
come.
Verizon Wireless
Could Expand Unlimited Prepaid
Plan
Wall Street Journal (blog)
Verizon’s success with its trial unlimited Unleashed plan has shown
success,
and it plans on rolling it out to additional markets.
Verizon is claiming that it has been able to
expand it prepaid penetration while avoiding cannibalization of its
postpaid
customers. While it was late to the game, the Verizon
Unleashed plan is well positioned to compete with the best of
them. It will be interesting to see how widely, and quickly
they're willing to expand the program.
Samsung Galaxy
Precedent Headed for Straight Talk Wireless
Phandroid.com
While it’s not a high end device, it’s a very capable smartphone on the
exclusive-to-Walmart Straight Talk plan.
For $150 for an essentially re-badged Samsung Prevail
(offered by Boost
Mobile), you’re getting some pretty decent specs.
Virgin's Triumph
Smartphone vs. Sprint's Photon
USA
Today
There’s no doubt that
prepaid carriers are launching much more capable
smartphones than even earlier this year.
I predict that by the end of 2012 no one will be able to
use the excuse
of prepaid having low end smartphones as a reason to jump ship on
contract
plans.
Virgin Mobile
takes on T-Mobile
CNET
While I’m not sure how fair of a comparison Virgin vs. T-Mobile is, I
suppose
that with T-Mobile struggling in the postpaid world, and its impending
purchase
by AT&T, it’s certainly focusing on prepaid a lot these days. Make no mistake, Virgin is
out there fighting
anyone who dares add more focus to prepaid.
The article notes that prepaid is generally for people
with lower income
or credit scores; that’s long been seen as an old way of thinking, and
certainly is not the case. As
smartphones become lower priced and higher quality even on the low end,
it’s
becoming even less appealing to sign a contract and usually even pay
more for
service
on a postpaid plan.
Sprint Opens
The Door to More Prepaid WiMAX
PC
Magazine
Sprint will allow its MVNOs to sell 4G services.
They definitively note that its Boost and
Virgin brands won’t be selling 4G.
It
really is amazing how fearful the Sprint mother ship is when it comes
to the
possibility of its prepaid business cannibalizing its
postpaid business. Ultimately, in order to
compete with prepaid
carriers launching 4G services, Sprint will need to seriously
revisit
this
decision, which I expect will need to happen as soon as the latter half
of
2012.
WIND Mobile Introduces
a Prepaid Option Called “Pay
Your Way”
MobileSyrup.com
This is really interesting. While
WIND
launched its service in Canada with the basic fundamentals of an
unlimited no
contract wireless carrier, it’s now launching classic pay-as-you-go
service. It just
goes to show that the
legacy pay-per-minute model is still a need in the marketplace. It will be interesting to
see how much of
their business will be split between pay-per-minute and monthly
unlimited.
MetroPCS Starts
Unlimited Music Plan With Rhapsody
The
Associated
Press
Given the success of Cricket’s unlimited Muve music, it’s no wonder
that Metro
is jumping on board as well. However,
I
truly don’t know whether Metro started working on its service long
before
Cricket saw any success. These
types of
services ultimately take a long time to put together.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see how
these services pan out in the long run.
It seems like a good deal for
customers, and even artists,
however, the
iTunes type of model is so ingrained, I’m not confident that these
carrier
services will make any meaningful behavioral changes in the larger
market.
Sprint &
T-Mobile Top Postpaid Satisfiers, Boost Mobile, MetroPCS &
Virgin Mobile
Wireless
and
Mobile News
On the prepaid wireless front, Boost Mobile came in first, followed by
MetroPCS, then Virgin Mobile. I'll leave it to you to
conclude whether or not these conclusions make sense...
H2O Wireless
Can Turn Unlocked iPhone and
Android Devices Into Pre-Paid
SlashGear
H2O has an app that will re-program your iPhone to work on their
network. I’ve never
seen such a simple re-flashing
process. Usually it
involves finding a
dealer that has a custom ROM, and the know-how to properly complete the
process. I’d really
like to see this
application in action! Of
course, better
yet would be the availability of an iPhone on major prepaid carriers;
it’s only
a matter of time!
What's New at
Prepaid-Wireless-Guide.com?
- Added new page Best
Android Apps
- Added
Google Translate to Right Column
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PrepaidWirelessGuy
