Emerging Wholesale Solutions Archives - Bartle Doo Article Archives

Once upon a time, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse, after watching the movie Moneyball, likened the iPhone to a superstar baseball player able to “draw the crowd and fill the seats in [the team’s] high-fixed-cost stadium. iPhone has an expensive contract but he’s worth every penny.”

That contract was expensive all right; Sprint committed to buy from Apple $15 billion worth of iPhones over four years. But because Hesse felt “…the number one reason new customers don’t try Sprint has been no iPhone,” that money seemed like a mandatory cost of doing business.

Unfortunately for Sprint, as well as for AT&T and Verizon, the iPhone subsidies mobile carriers must pay to entice subscribers into signing long-term contracts just keep eating away at their profits. The more phones subsidized, the thinner the margins.

Now, in a much quieter voice announcing a program aimed at Sprint’s wholesale customers, the Mobile Virtual Network Operators, or MVNOs, which re-sell Sprint’s network services under their own brands, it seems Sprint is sidling up to Google‘s Android.

The company issued a statement today, recognizing Android’s popularity by citing research from mobile industry analyst firm Strategy Analytics saying that “70 percent of the world smartphone market share belonged at the end of 2012 to Android.”

It also brought up research firm comScore’s U.S. smartphone market share numbers, “which showed Android leading in market share with 53.4 percent of the total smartphone market.”

What Sprint says it will do for the MVNOs is offer them volume pricing on a selection of de-branded “marquee” Android handsets.

“The Android operating system provides such incredible flexibility and supply chain economy of scale that … [we] can now extend a … new branding opportunity to our wholesale customers,” said Bill Esrey, vice president of Emerging & Wholesale Solutions at Sprint.

This is quite an extraordinary reflection on the importance of Android made by the company that had put the iPhone on such a high pedestal.

The article Is Sprint Changing Its iPhone Perspective? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Dan Radovsky owns shares of AT&T. The Motley Fool recommends Apple and Google. The Motley Fool owns shares of Apple and Google. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

(function(c,a){window.mixpanel=a;var b,d,h,e;b=c.createElement(“script”);
b.type=”text/javascript”;b.async=!0;b.src=(“https:”===c.location.protocol?”https:”:”http:”)+
‘//cdn.mxpnl.com/libs/mixpanel-2.2.min.js’;d=c.getElementsByTagName(“script”)[0];
d.parentNode.insertBefore(b,d);a._i=[];a.init=function(b,c,f){function d(a,b){
var c=b.split(“.”);2==c.length&&(a=a[c[0]],b=c[1]);a[b]=function(){a.push([b].concat(
Array.prototype.slice.call(arguments,0)))}}var g=a;”undefined”!==typeof f?g=a[f]=[]:
f=”mixpanel”;g.people=g.people||[];h=[‘disable’,’track’,’track_pageview’,’track_links’,
‘track_forms’,’register’,’register_once’,’unregister’,’identify’,’alias’,’name_tag’,
‘set_config’,’people.set’,’people.increment’];for(e=0;e<h.length;e++)d(g,h[e]);
…read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool

Filed under: Investing

Sprint Introduces Custom Branded Device Program, Enabling MVNOs to Custom-Brand White-Label Android Phones

For the first time, MVNOs have greater access to completely de-branded devices from Sprint

Coupled with white-labeled Mobile ID and Mobile Zone products from Sprint, MVNOs can extend their brand elements to end users more efficiently

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– As the proliferation of smartphones continues to grow, Sprint (NYS: S) Emerging & Wholesale Solutions today introduced the Custom Branded Device Program. Through the program, MVNOs will have greater, and potentially quicker, access to a large selection of completely de-branded marquee Android handsets out of Sprint and Boost Mobile device inventory with volume pricing included.

Select Android devices can be automatically modified through Mobile ID and Mobile Zone, giving MVNOs the ability to extend their own brand directly to end users through over-the-air activation. Currently, Sprint has three devices available for this program – LG Optimus G, LG Mach and Sprint Flash. Several additional devices are expected to be added to the lineup by the end of this month.

Industry analyst firm Strategy Analytics reported in January that 70 percent of the world smartphone market share belonged at the end of 2012 to Android Meanwhile, in early February, research firm comScore released its quarterly U.S. smartphone market share numbers, which showed Android leading in market share with 53.4 percent of the total smartphone market.

“The Android operating system provides such incredible flexibility and supply chain economy of scale that, when coupled with the Sprint Mobile ID and Mobile Zone products, can now extend a value and a new branding opportunity to our wholesale customers,” said Bill Esrey, vice president, Emerging & Wholesale Solutions at Sprint. “The Custom Branded Device Program enables our MVNO customers to extend a personal and direct relationship that transcends outside of the store walls, at Sprint’s volume pricing.”

Sprint continues its commitment to the “open” mobile ecosystem through open platforms Mobile ID and Mobile Zone, which are white-labeled variations of the popular Sprint ID and Sprint Zone applications. These platforms enable Sprint’s international and wholesale customers to replicate Sprint’s success with the retail versions of the same services – driving enhanced customer engagement and revenue growth opportunities for MVNOs.

FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance

Bartle Doo Article Archives

Tag Archives: Emerging Wholesale Solutions

Is Sprint Changing Its iPhone Perspective?

Sprint Introduces Custom Branded Device Program, Enabling MVNOs to Custom-Brand White-Label Android

Articles Archive