Sprint Redials Its Pre-Paid Businesses

[clbdee]

Sprint today announced a wholly new approach to the way it is organizing its pre-paid cellular businesses. Sprint is separating its pre-paid businesses into four distinct units, each with their own focus.
Virgin Mobile USA: Sprint says that Virgin Mobile will serve as its high-end pre-paid service, and it will offer advanced devices with plans that place more emphasis on texting and web use rather than voice use. Starting May 12, $25 will get users unlimited messaging, email, data and web with 300 minutes per month. The $40 plan bumps the minutes offered up to 1,200, and $60 per month buys unlimited everything. The plans are called "Beyond Talk." Users will be able to add BlackBerry services to any of these plans for just $10 more per month. Virgin's Broadband2Go will still fall under this set of plans. It provides no-contract wireless broadband for devices such as laptops.
Boost Mobile: Boost will focus more on talking and texting. The $50 unlimited plan provides unlimited talk, text, web, 411, email and IM. New handsets being offered by Boost include the Samsung Rant, and Kyocera Incognito, Mirro SCP3810 and Juno.
Assurance Wireless: This service, launched earlier this year, is a free service provided to low-income households across the U.S. Qualifying citizens receive a free cell phone and 200 free minutes of airtime for local and long-distance calling per month.
Common Cents Mobile: Last, Sprint is launching a very inexpensive plan that lets users pay by the minute. Users will pay $0.07 per minute of use, and $0.07 per text message sent. Simple phones, such as the LG 101, Samsung M340, and Kyocera S2300 are available from Common Cents.

[ghlu]

wonder if there's any monthly fee associated with common cents. If not it could be an excellent way as an emergency backup.

[Protagonist]

...

Just what Sprint needed, more unnecessarily complex offerings that all compete with each other for the consumers attention!

Simplicity and focus are powerful things. Once again Sprint seems intent on ignoring that.

[rilharri]

Its a very good addtion for those poeple using Net 10 and such

Sprint today announced a whole new approach to the way it is organizing its pre-paid cellular businesses. Sprint is separating its pre-paid businesses into four distinct units, each with their own focus.

•Virgin Mobile USA: Sprint says that Virgin Mobile will serve as its high-end pre-paid service, and it will offer advanced devices with plans that place more emphasis on texting and web use rather than voice use. Starting May 12, $25 will get users unlimited messaging, email, data and web with 300 minutes per month. The $40 plan bumps the minutes offered up to 1,200, and $60 per month buys unlimited everything. The plans are called "Beyond Talk." Users will be able to add BlackBerry services to any of these plans for just $10 more per month. Virgin's Broadband2Go will still fall under this set of plans. It provides no-contract wireless broadband for devices such as laptops. Sprint indicated that Broadband2Go could take advantage of "4G" services at some point, though Sprint didn't specifically say WiMax.
•Boost Mobile: Boost will focus more on talking and texting. The $50 unlimited plan provides unlimited talk, text, web, 411, email and IM. New handsets being offered by Boost include the Samsung Rant, and Kyocera Incognito, Mirro SCP3810 and Juno. These are all CDMA phones. Boost will also continue to offer iDEN devices and services.
•Assurance Wireless: This service, launched earlier this year, is a free service provided to low-income households across the U.S. Qualifying citizens receive a free cell phone and 200 free minutes of airtime for local and long-distance calling per month.
•Common Cents Mobile: Last, Sprint is launching a very inexpensive plan that lets users pay by the minute. Users will pay $0.07 per minute of voice use, and $0.07 per text message sent. Simple phones, such as the LG 101, Samsung M340, and Kyocera S2300 are available from Common Cents.

[Candygoblin]

As a sero 500 user, Virgin looks alright. Depending on what they mean by "advanced devices", of course.

[Joe12304]

So Sprint is now the quadruple threat? Common Cents for paygo, Virgin for light users, Boost for unlimited, and postpaid for people that want the best phones or roaming. Pretty much have every segment covered now!

[huntm856]

^^^What he (Candygoblin) said. What kind of 'advanced devices?'

BTW, what is the origin of your screen name? Makes me think of trick-or-treating every time I see it.

[drhz]

...

Just what Sprint needed, more unnecessarily complex offerings that all compete with each other for the consumers attention!

Simplicity and focus are powerful things. Once again Sprint seems intent on ignoring that.

I'm glad that Sprint is following in the footsteps of great multi brand companies like P&G, Disney, and America Movil who owns Tracfone, Net10, and Straight Talk Brands.

[Candygoblin]

BTW, what is the origin of your screen name? Makes me think of trick-or-treating every time I see it.

Nothing too interesting I'm afraid. I think I was eating a candy bar at the time I registered. Didn't mean for it to be Pavlovian haha.

[offthegrid]

Half of all customer sign ups in the US in the 1st quarter this year were prepaid sign ups.

Sprint is going where the money is.

[chokaay]

Sprint today announced a wholly new approach to the way it is organizing its pre-paid cellular businesses. Sprint is separating its pre-paid businesses into four distinct units, each with their own focus...

Wow! I personally think this is a good idea on Sprint's part (finally). Prepaid is now where the money is (according to recent statistics), and giving each of the 4 companies their own distinct strategy & focus and compartmentalizing each one is a very good idea. The question now is... will Sprint screw up the transition for each of these companies... and how will these prepaid offerings affect Sprint's postpaid performance & service.

[Next Steps]

So, you can buy a 8530 and pay $35 a month for 300 mins, unlimited text & web? Sounds pretty awesome to me.

[Joe12304]

So, you can buy a 8530 and pay $35 a month for 300 mins, unlimited text & web? Sounds pretty awesome to me.

As long as you don't mind paying $300 plus for the device, it is surely a deal!

[mdasen]

This multi-brand approach just seems to splinter Sprint's efforts. Consumers will be left questioning why they can't get that phone with this plan, what the difference between them is, etc. As it stands, Virgin Mobile is charging $60 for what Boost is charging $50 for what Sprint is charging $100.

I understand that Sprint would like to get customers that see the Sprint brand as tarnished. I understand that Sprint would like to get customers who will pay $100 to pay that and customers who will pay $60 to still be customers at that $60 level and so on. It might work for a time, but in the long-run, it just makes Sprint feel like it doesn't know where it's going, makes customers feel like the company isn't cohesive, and makes their advertising spend so much greater to get the same customers. As it stands, every T-Mobile ad gets T-Mobile in people's heads whether they're talking about post-pay or pre-pay. Likewise, AT&T and Verizon present a single brand. Sprint is already double spending on Boost and Sprint and will soon be adding more - triple or quadruple spending.

Multiple brands are good when you want consumers to think you're different companies providing different experiences. Disney has other brands so that they can do rated-R films while parents think Disney is the family friendly source. Likewise, if you have shoddy service, multiple brands can have customers keep coming back to you since they don't know that Brand B is actually the same company as Brand A that they know they dislike.

Heck, remember when GM was putting out the same vehicles as Oldsmobile, Pontiac, and Chevrolet? Sure, you get some customers who might have gotten pissed off at the local Chevrolet dealership who buy the Pontiac version, but in the end you're spending a ton more on advertising and many consumers see through the thin veil to what's really behind it: a lack of vision, direction, and understanding of what people want.

[Protagonist]

I'm glad that Sprint is following in the footsteps of great multi brand companies like P&G, Disney, and America Movil who owns Tracfone, Net10, and Straight Talk Brands.

I realize that if I said the sky was blue you would disagree with me, but surely even you can see how foolish it is to sell the same service under 4 different brands with 4 different handset selections and price points and CS channels etc etc etc.

It is a lack of focus and an unwillingness to commit to decisive action.