Major Re-Branding

[cookedgoose]

Wow plenty of things said and no sources.

It looks like prepaid (Virgin Mobile/Boost)... is delivering numbers for the company (Sprint)...
http://www.prepaidreviews.com/blog/s...-growth-36341/
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/...ers/2009-10-29

Yes, the sample size regarding Best Buy and Radio Shack was in reference to my local market, and may not be representative of other markets, however the national numbers do not lie, and continue to grow each and every quarter. Aside from the dramatic loss of Boost Mobile iDen (walkie talkie) subscribers, Sprint has posted massive prepaid gains since acquiring Virgin Mobile USA and launching BT service plans.

Yes and anyone else reading my post a little more carefully would have already realized I wasn't claiming to frame my own theories as proven facts, but ok.

And what's worse is your sources only show growth in Sprint's prepaid services and nothing more about Virgin Mobile's profile. It's one thing to overtly admit that one's (single) argument made is purely hypothesis. But it's another to draw generous extrapolations from sources that say something completely different and postulate your own arguments as fact. A mile of a difference, buddy, just thought you should know.

In other words, you haven't prove anything.

[billm261]

It looks like prepaid (Virgin Mobile/Boost)... is delivering numbers for the company (Sprint)...

Yes, the sample size regarding Best Buy and Radio Shack was in reference to my local market, and may not be representative of other markets, however the national numbers do not lie, and continue to grow each and every quarter. Aside from the dramatic loss of Boost Mobile iDen (walkie talkie) subscribers, Sprint has posted massive prepaid gains since acquiring Virgin Mobile USA and launching BT service plans.

Those reports are old (one almost 3 years ago) news.

About 500K prepaid gains Q/4 2011 is not "massive".

Follow this from Q4/2011:

"The company added 507,000 net prepaid subscribers during the quarter, which includes net additions of 899,000 prepaid Sprint platform customers, offset by losses of 392,000 net prepaid Nextel platform customers."

Now, who knows (and it seems to be a guarded secret) how many of those 899K Sprint platform adds actually came from the IDEN platform?

They try the same thing on postpaid when reporting (but the street can see through the fluff) and there is a reason the stock is under 2.50 a share. Corporate fuzzy math at its best.

Not to worry however, soon enough IDEN will be dead and buried and Sprint's true numbers (both postpaid and prepaid) will be irrefutable.

What is sadder is that prepaid ARPU is actually declining. Not good for a company that is actually cash strapped as it is. Many here whine about how bad data speeds are (and they are not wrong) but unless this company starts to make money don't expect to see blazing fast speeds on VM. They are indicating nothing about future network and device improvements.

This new promotional blitz is (like I stated earlier) putting lipstick on a pig.

[Celtic Quest]

OK, so I think I may have found more about this on the NY Times web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/bu...0mobile&st=cse



Unfortunately, there's nothing in there about service improvements or better handsets. I can already get my lulz and app news from other places; this won't affect me any more than Virgin Mobile Radio turned me away from Shoutcast.

Just like nobody subscribes to a phone company for a crappy Internet radio station, nobody subscribes to find out about Youtube videos or read celebrity gossip. There are better sources for that.

Instead of competing with something completely unrelated to their field, VM should focus on the one thing customers do come to them for: good prepaid phone service. Show newcomers how to do cool stuff with their phones, like turning it into a webcam with IP Webcam. Make it easy for us to mingle with Boost Mobile. Hell, you want to do something really different? Show off some of the devs who make custom ROMs for VM's phones. There's no doubt in my mind that rooting & customizing appeals to people in their target demographic, and every other carrier seems intent on stamping it out.



If I remember correctly, Sprint's numbers don't differentiate between their various prepaid brands, so there's no real way to determine how VM in particular did.

If this is all they are going to offer then I am not impressed at all!!

Sent from my VM670 using HowardForums

[cookedgoose]

Those reports are old (one almost 3 years ago) news.

About 500K prepaid gains Q/4 2011 is not "massive".

Follow this from Q4/2011:

"The company added 507,000 net prepaid subscribers during the quarter, which includes net additions of 899,000 prepaid Sprint platform customers, offset by losses of 392,000 net prepaid Nextel platform customers."

Now, who knows (and it seems to be a guarded secret) how many of those 899K Sprint platform adds actually came from the IDEN platform?

They try the same thing on postpaid when reporting (but the street can see through the fluff) and there is a reason the stock is under 2.50 a share. Corporate fuzzy math at its best.

Not to worry however, soon enough IDEN will be dead and buried and Sprint's true numbers (both postpaid and prepaid) will be irrefutable.

What is sadder is that prepaid ARPU is actually declining. Not good for a company that is actually cash strapped as it is. Many here whine about how bad data speeds are (and they are not wrong) but unless this company starts to make money don't expect to see blazing fast speeds on VM. They are indicating nothing about future network and device improvements.

This new promotional blitz is (like I stated earlier) putting lipstick on a pig.

Fuzzy corporate math indeed. I'm sure Sprint's accountants and other experts have come up with creative ways to fudge with the numbers. But the typical stockholder probably isn't a complete idiot to be unable to see through the smokescreen.


I jumped ship as soon as I got a general sense of Sprint's situation. They do a great job of publicizing the network upgrades taking place all around the country, but no concrete results=no progress in my book. I would've preferred staying, but I don't see that happening. That's why I've decided to allow my VM phone's remaining balance to auto-refill every other month and die eventually.

[vmobi]

Those reports are old (one almost 3 years ago) news.

About 500K prepaid gains Q/4 2011 is not "massive".

Follow this from Q4/2011:

"The company added 507,000 net prepaid subscribers during the quarter, which includes net additions of 899,000 prepaid Sprint platform customers, offset by losses of 392,000 net prepaid Nextel platform customers."

Now, who knows (and it seems to be a guarded secret) how many of those 899K Sprint platform adds actually came from the IDEN platform?

They try the same thing on postpaid when reporting (but the street can see through the fluff) and there is a reason the stock is under 2.50 a share. Corporate fuzzy math at its best.

Not to worry however, soon enough IDEN will be dead and buried and Sprint's true numbers (both postpaid and prepaid) will be irrefutable.

What is sadder is that prepaid ARPU is actually declining. Not good for a company that is actually cash strapped as it is. Many here whine about how bad data speeds are (and they are not wrong) but unless this company starts to make money don't expect to see blazing fast speeds on VM. They are indicating nothing about future network and device improvements.

This new promotional blitz is (like I stated earlier) putting lipstick on a pig.

It is sad that they CONvinceD a large number of value seeking subs onto BOOST Mobile's iDen service. Definitely not cool, but why would you think that any of those former Boost subs would remain loyal to a company/brand that sold them a service of unlimited talk, text, and iDen WEB? These Boost Mobile subs were subjected to a horrificly slow iDen data service, and a failed text messaging service (remember the whine eminating from the Boost Mobile iDen forum). Why in the wide wide world of sports would they remain brand loyal after such an experience. Highly unlikely that they did. Maybe that is why Sprint added a 2nd in-house prepaid brand Virgin Mobile.

The prepaid arpu is down along with Sprint's prepaid churn rate (fyi, low churn rate is a good thing for wireless carriers), thanks to Virgin Mobile's Assurance Wireless service. You are spot on about Sprint needing to invest additional money to complete the 4G build out and 3G upgrades. Thanks to the consistent monthly income provided by Assurance Wireless and by the growing number of subscribers on that service, Sprint will have to seek less money to reach their wireless data improvement goals.

What no one knows is what Sprint will soon unleash onto the prepaid wireless arena with Virgin Mobile USA. If they felt the need to bring in Sir Richard for a prelaunch tease it is bound to be something more than your assumed "lipstick".

Sent from my LG-VM701 using HowardForums

[BadCredit1]

BTW, I don't get the new campaign. Richard Branson is not well-known in the USA. Considering how VM's demographic is ages 18-24, how many of those people know or care about him? I can't imagine they'll relate to an aging Boomer billionaire. Further, those who know anything about VMUSA know that Sprint owns the brand and Branson only collects a royalty check.

This is kind of off topic, but I just got back from my first day/night at my new job, and my boss was talking about how he used to work for Richard Branson, and was once one of the main people in charge of many different Virgin companies...the only 2 that I remember him saying was Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Mobile. I thought that was pretty cool.

[billm261]

This is kind of off topic, but I just got back from my first day/night at my new job, and my boss was talking about how he used to work for Richard Branson, and was once one of the main people in charge of many different Virgin companies...the only 2 that I remember him saying was Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Mobile. I thought that was pretty cool.

He also had ambitions of commercial flights to the moon.

Maybe he should replace Hesse

Sent from my Inspire 4G using HowardForums

[billm261]

It is sad that they CONvinceD a large number of value seeking subs onto BOOST Mobile's iDen service. Definitely not cool, but why would you think that any of those former Boost subs would remain loyal to a company/brand that sold them a service of unlimited talk, text, and iDen WEB?

If you remember correctly, it was Boost Mobile IDEN that blew the doors wide open in prepaid. Others followed and to this date, 55 a month with shrinkage it still tough to beat from a price standpoint for unlimited everything.

These Boost Mobile subs were subjected to a horrificly slow iDen data service, and a failed text messaging service (remember the whine eminating from the Boost Mobile iDen forum). Why in the wide wide world of sports would they remain brand loyal after such an experience. Highly unlikely that they did. Maybe that is why Sprint added a 2nd in-house prepaid brand Virgin Mobile.

Nobody signed up with Boost IDEN expecting fast data speeds, if they did they were dumb. Shortly after the influx of Boost subscribers Sprint changed/upgraded the server platform (all IDEN texts are MMS, not SMS) and the problem went away.

Out of the 539K net adds on postpaid CDMA, 168K were IDEN customers that simply switched networks so obviously it happen.

You can't tell me that nobody decided to stay (especially with shrinkage) with Boost and left to a different carrier. They could have even switched to Virgin but you have absolutely nothing to back up your assumptions. I have no figures either.

The prepaid arpu is down along with Sprint's prepaid churn rate (fyi, low churn rate is a good thing for wireless carriers), thanks to Virgin Mobile's Assurance Wireless service. You are spot on about Sprint needing to invest additional money to complete the 4G build out and 3G upgrades. Thanks to the consistent monthly income provided by Assurance Wireless and by the growing number of subscribers on that service, Sprint will have to seek less money to reach their wireless data improvement goals.

10.00 a month for ARPU on welfare assisted wireless is absolute garbage. Sprint can ill afford to spend less money on network enhancements. They are already behind the eight ball.

What no one knows is what Sprint will soon unleash onto the prepaid wireless arena with Virgin Mobile USA. If they felt the need to bring in Sir Richard for a prelaunch tease it is bound to be something more than your assumed "lipstick".

People must be leaving in droves to initiate a "Branson to the rescue" campaign.

[1cewolf]

but unless this company starts to make money don't expect to see blazing fast speeds on VM.

From a business perspective, I feel for Sprint. Verizon, for instance, hard-caps their data and charges up the wazoo, so they're loaded with cash for upgrades. Sprint offers both full unlimited or soft-capped unlimited, and they still have to lower their prices to compete because of the reduced coverage.

People must be leaving in droves to initiate a "Branson to the rescue" campaign.

Good point.

Whatever VM decides to do, I hope it isn't all smoke and mirrors. When competition is reduced, everybody loses.

[fonezfonz]

This reminds me of the mystery surrounding (the underwhelming) Tmobile Project Black from a couple of years ago. The current Monthly 4g plans blow away anything that they offered on Black (though admittedly the current state of wireless demand is different from two years ago especially in regards to data services) but are not being pushed nearly as hard as Black was at the time. VM looks to be doing possibly something similar. With all of their cutbacks, price increases (in their most popular plans) , consistently poor data/mms service and bad CS, they have a lot of things to work on. I think they did well with the BT plans (especially the original $25 one), made numbers up the yin yang, got complacent and started being left behind by others (like the Tmobile/Walmart data plan and the new ST/N10 byop offers).

Sprint is probably trying to squeeze as much as it can out of prepaid to stabilize its massive iphone subsidies, at least in part. Att's mvnos are getting stronger offerings and Sprint's are even slowing down (witness Zapp for instance). Lack of consistent byod is also a weakness.

VM needs help apparently, if they get it and pull it off is another thing. Better devices, better cs, shrinkage, etc would help but we'll see in a few quarters how the numbers are and if they pull it off (whatever it will be) or not.

Prepaid wireless subs are the least loyal of all so they'd better come out swinging or go home.

[vmobi]

If you remember ...
...Nobody signed up with Boost IDEN expecting fast data speeds, if they did they were dumb.
...
Out of the 539K net adds on postpaid CDMA, 168K were IDEN customers...
...I have no figures either.

10.00 a month for ARPU on welfare assisted wireless is absolute garbage.

People must ...

So you claim that Sprint purposely failed to disclose the useless data speeds on their walkie talkie service?
Not a good way to initiate a positive customer relationship with that service.
For a moment I was about to thank you for providing information regarding the 168,000 former Boost iDen customers you guess are still on Boost Mobile. Thanks for clarifying that you're just guessing, absolutely nothing wrong with that wishful thinking.

$10 per Assurance Wireless Subscriber is $150 Million 1st year income PLUS $120 Million every year after (per 1 Million AW subscribers). That seems like a whole bunch of, as you like to refer to low income service subscribers, "garbage". The bigger question is why AT&T wants to cancell a service they profited from for such a long time? Maybe because now Sprint is starting to capture millions of those former landline lifeline subscribers.

Sir Richard Branson's appearance on VM's new marketing initiative may be part of the VM/Sprint agreement and/or a part of the Virgin Groups bigger plans. They recently announced their new MVNO initiatives across Latin America, maybe using Branson on VM USA can help solidify their corporate message of providing value in the countries Virgin Mobile operates in. Affordable devices and/or affordable service options on VM USA might be expanded on even further, if so, then the probability of an Apple iPhone 4S on the service is quite low, unless they bring it to market for less than $300.

Sent from my LG-VM701 using HowardForums

[Churner]

http://popsop.com/54345

“Today the smartphone is the center of your universe,” said Branson. “And yet, nobody ever says, ‘I love my cell phone company.’ A Higher Calling will change all that. I’m very proud to be in this Virgin Mobile campaign.”

Additionally, the company has launched Virgin Mobile Live, the brand’s cultural content platform at www.virginmobilelive.com. The site is accessible via Facebook, Web, Tumblr*and Pinterest and offers users daily original content, including streamed music, videos, photos and infographics.

Virgin Mobile will also feature weekly profiles of apps to help developers gain exposure, says The NY Times. The first app profile will be unveiled at the South by Southwest conference on Friday. VM 25, a team of 25 technology bloggers will help the company promote its contests.

Virgin has also launched its Virgin Digital Help online service in the U.S., available in the UK since 2009. Virgin Digital Help offers remote assistance over the telephone, through live and automated chat sessions, via email to its subscribers that pay $30 a month to use the service. Virgin Digital Help will diagnose and resolve any ‘digital-related’ problems remotely.

[Extraordinary]

Just saw this commercial on TV:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GYiCvxkkYs

[1cewolf]

http://popsop.com/54345

You mean for the low price of >2x my normal monthly rate, I can have real outsourced workers clearing my browser cache for me when my 3g craps out?

[Churner]

You mean for the low price of >2x my normal monthly rate, I can have real outsourced workers clearing my browser cache for me when my 3g craps out?

I don't get the value of that one, either. If you need $30/month worth of handholding to make Android work for you, you probably weren't a good candidate for a smartphone in the first place, and you are probably using one of the postpaid providers, since you have more money than tech-savvy.