Sprint only nabs 8% of presale orders

[Evan702]

yes, true, but not just *my* locale, but *most* locales. The underlying point of course is that Sprint's current meager LTE deployment certainly would have a significant impact on iphone 5 sales, for those doing comparison shopping -- the media is saying this as well. So in searching for reasons why Sprint only captures 8% of the national uptake on the iPhone 5, it wouldn't be surprising at all if, for those that care about data speeds and did test trials, that 92% would not choose Sprint.

Hopefully it will be different soon, but out of 100 people nationwide, if only 8 say they got decent and COMPETITIVE speeds with Sprint, that would not be surprising at all...

Well for the reasons that I mentioned earlier in this thread, I question the total accuracy of ComScore's guesstimates. USA Today reports that one Apple store in Philly had a handful of 64GB iPhones available: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/story/2...les/57834504/1 Being that Sprint is a value carrier, it shouldn't be too much of a surprise that a store still had a few of the most expensive version of the device left. Sprint's own website shows that they're sold out of all models. I just don't know that Sprint's situation is as dire as the ComScore guesstimates might cause some to believe. If it's solely, or mostly, about data speeds and Verizon LTE is as impressive as you say, why does AT&T have such a higher percentage of pre-orders than Verizon according to ComScore? Their LTE speeds are likely comparable and Verizon certainly has much more LTE coverage as their "focus-group" commercials clearly illustrate, so why didn't they have a more comparable piece of the pie to AT&T?

just a guess, but you don't have good Sprint LTE service in *your* locale, do you?

No need for guesswork. *My* location is clearly listed and the locations where Sprint has rolled out 4G LTE are quite easy to find.

[monkeyboy]

Well for the reasons that I mentioned earlier in this thread, I question the total accuracy of ComScore's guesstimates.... I just don't know that Sprint's situation is as dire as the ComScore guesstimates might cause some to believe.

Obviously what we or I don't know is what the per carrier allocation from Apple was... Certainly Sprint wasn't given equal allocation, so even if it is true that Sprint's website states that it is sold out does NOT contradict the figure that Sprint is only 8% ... obviously Sprint's allocation could well be 8-10%, Verizon 25% and AT&T 65% of the US release week allocation.

If it's solely, or mostly, about data speeds and Verizon LTE is as impressive as you say, why does AT&T have such a higher percentage of pre-orders than Verizon according to ComScore? Their LTE speeds are likely comparable and Verizon certainly has much more LTE coverage as their "focus-group" commercials clearly illustrate, so why didn't they have a more comparable piece of the pie to AT&T?

Why? well as billm261 said:

AT&T has had and always will have the Lions share of iPhones on its network.

as you know, VZW has been pushing Droids much more than iPhones... probably a smart business move as the margins are higher (subsidies are lower)...

I never said that data speed is the *sole* factor... obviously it is not. Obviously a big fraction of initial iPhone 5 sales are to iPhone fanbois -- really the iPhone 5 isn't a HUGE advance over the 4S. And most of the 4/4S customers are on AT&T already -- for lots of reasons. Moreover, AT&T HSPA+ is pretty fast, much faster than EVDO, so there isn't nearly as much of a gap between VZW LTE and AT&T HSPA+ as with either compared with Sprint EVDO (with many suffering from backhaul issues).

The media has already pointed this factor out (i.e. the advantage of VZW LTE for prospective iPhone 5 customers), and now Verizon has ads that emphasize this point, which directly compare all four major carriers.

Mostly I was reflecting on why I *might* be part of that 92% (not the 8%) because after seeing firsthand the direct comparison, I was questioning again: why exactly am I on Sprint? how long am I supposed to wait for decent speeds? how am I supposed to justify this to the other shared plan members? is the $10-20/mo I'm saving really worth the poor speeds and coverage?

[formercanuck]

Congrats. Odd comparison though. I'm sure that Verizon's 4G LTE on the iPhone 5 screams in comparison to Verizon's 3G as well. Is the underlying point that you're trying make that Sprint's 4G LTE hasn't yet made it to your locale?

Heck, nobody's LTE has made it to my locale, and I live 5 miles north of Los Angeles city limits.

[Evan702]

Obviously what we or I don't know is what the per carrier allocation from Apple was... Certainly Sprint wasn't given equal allocation, so even if it is true that Sprint's website states that it is sold out does NOT contradict the figure that Sprint is only 8% ... obviously Sprint's allocation could well be 8-10%, Verizon 25% and AT&T 65% of the US release week allocation.

True, it could be anything, nobody here knows. Sprint's website being sold out doesn't contradict ComScore's 8% guesstimate (and I still believe from the way it reads that their guesstimate only included pre-sales solely through Apple directly), but it obviously doesn't confirm it either. There are simply to many unknown variables to just take one company's guesstimate and draw any kind of meaningful conclusion from it.

[mdasen]

8%? They control more of the wireless market than that... so that isn't a good number to have.

It's not bad when you compare post-pay, data-network subs. Sprint has 29.4M customers on its post-pay CDMA network. Those are the potential iPhone 5 customers (you can't get it on Virgin or Boost or iDEN). Verizon has 88.8M CDMA/LTE post-pay subscribers that are the customer base that could be buying the iPhone 5. AT&T has 69.6M. So, 29.4M of 187.8M is 15.7%. At 8%, they're roughly proportional divided by 2. Verizon, at 47% of the iPhone 5 potential subs and 24% of the actual subs, is similarly roughly proportional divided by two. So, Sprint is selling in lock-step with version with respect to the number of subs that could possibly buy the iPhone 5.

I'm a little surprised that Verizon's sales aren't stronger given its strong LTE position. However, AT&T's entrenched user-base, HSPA+, and simultaneous voice and data might be helping them. Suffice it to say, while 8% looks bad, it isn't. Sprint is matching Verizon when you account for potential iPhone 5 purchasers.

[gambit57]

Maybe they're not buying cuz they're not all up for contract renewal?

I'm switching from AT&T. My wife is adding another line cuz her sister may or may not be takign over her 4S.

In any case, I did not like Verizon's pricing. They may have LTE, but they're super expensive. The economy still sucks. I don't see the point in paying an extra $20-40 or whatever it is (Sprint has a good discount to DW's employer; don't have one with Verizon). I don't live in the Bay Area. My coworker is contemplating switching carriers. I ran a speed test on my iPhone 4. .30 Mbps download average. Yes, 0.30. Extremely slow, but still good enough to check facebook, surf the web, and watch the occasional Youtube or Netflix video. Went to SF over the weekend. Got like 4.6 Mbps there. Huge difference. Sprint was just 1.1 Mbps in SF.

Since it's all crap here, yet still usable, I go by the cheapest plan price. The more I enjoy the speed, the quicker I'll hit the cap. I'm fine with Sprint's slow speeds but cheap pricing.

[AutoUnion]

Not surprised. Anyone who looks right over the "unlimited data" crap has done the research and realized that their network isn't reliable and has subpar speeds almost everywhere (except LTE areas). People are just better off with VZW or AT&T in the larger metro areas.

I have two close friends who got the 4S on Sprint last fall and they are both trying to get off because Sprint, here in Boston, sucks. Phone is constantly switching between 3G and "o." Meanwhile VZW and AT&T users are enjoying true LTE speeds without random signal drops all over the city.

[503ducati]

I have two close friends who got the 4S on Sprint last fall and they are both trying to get off because Sprint, here in Boston, sucks. Phone is constantly switching between 3G and "o."

That's because Boston market area is being overhauled, there are several threads on multiple boards of people posting LTE speeds and increased 3G speeds there. Every Sprint tower site is being overhauled.

[billm261]

I have two close friends who got the 4S on Sprint last fall and they are both trying to get off because Sprint, here in Boston, sucks. Phone is constantly switching between 3G and "o." Meanwhile VZW and AT&T users are enjoying true LTE speeds without random signal drops all over the city.

I can only guess it's painful to be in a market getting upgraded but, your friends will be very happy very soon in Boston with Sprint.

[VDubb]

I'm a little surprised that Verizon's sales aren't stronger given its strong LTE position. However, AT&T's entrenched user-base, HSPA+, and simultaneous voice and data might be helping them. Suffice it to say, while 8% looks bad, it isn't. Sprint is matching Verizon when you account for potential iPhone 5 purchasers.

Another poster stated it earlier, but Verizon tends to push Android devices over the iPhone. It's safe to assume that with the push by sales people and the 4G advantage up until a week ago, a fair amount of potential iPhone users went with an Android device instead of waiting for the iPhone 5 to be release. Also, AT&T has much more iPhone users ready to upgrade vs. Verizon and Sprint, so they were probably given a higher priority when it came to stock.

- VDubb

[AutoUnion]

I can only guess it's painful to be in a market getting upgraded but, your friends will be very happy very soon in Boston with Sprint.

Boston's "Network Vision" isn't supposed to be done until the end of the next year. It is completely unreasonable to have to wait for the network to improve. If this was AT&T, everyone would have targets on them, but we should give Sprint a free pass and wait? It's ridiculous to have a non-usable network in such a large market.

I understand that Sprint is going to fix the problem, but why should they continue to wait a year until it is done? At that point, they are the end of their contract and will probably jump ship to VZW/AT&T. Both carriers who have no issues around here and have huge LTE rollouts in MA.

[503ducati]

There was a thread regarding Boston LTE recently: http://www.howardforum.com/showthrea...ch-on-the-21st

[Evan702]

Boston's "Network Vision" isn't supposed to be done until the end of the next year.

According to whom?

[18Wheels]

I'm sure most those that wanted an iPhone on Sprint had already bought the 4 series and none of them were eligible for an upgrade.

AT&T has had and always will have the Lions share of iPhones on its network.

Sent from my Atrix2 using Tapatalk

Exactly, I have the 4S, I'm not eligible to upgrade until July 2013. If Sprint allowed me to do it early, I'm willing to pay and extend the contract.