Sprint sold 1.5M iPhones in March quarter, but lost 560,000 customers
Sales of Apple's iPhone were down at Sprint, as America's third-largest wireless carrier lost more than a half-million subscribers last quarter, but still posted returns that beat Wall Street's estimates.
Even with the loss of 560,000 subscribers from January through March, Sprint's losses in the quarter narrowed and the carrier lost $643 million, whereas it lost $863 million in the same quarter last year. At the end of the quarter, Sprint had 31.3 million customers on contract paying an average of $61.47 per month.
Apple's iPhone actually brought in a considerable number of new customers, Sprint said, with 43 percent of iPhone customers being new to the carrier, compared with 38 percent in the holiday quarter.
In the previous quarter, the 2.2 million iPhone units Sprint moved accounted for more than 50 percent of the carrier's smartphone sales. This past quarter, though, Sprint's 1.5 million iPhone sales made up just 30 percent of the five million total smartphone units sold.
The iPhone represents a substantial investment on Sprint's part, as the company committed $15.5 billion over four years to subsidizing the cost of the device beginning in 2011. That expenditure to this day impacts the carrier's bottom line, though Sprint expects to make up for the cost over time with subscriber revenue.
Sprint shares have more than tripled over the past ten months, as the carrier is now at the center of a bidding war. Late last year, Japan's Softbank made a $20 billion bid for Sprint, which would see it taking a 70 percent stake in the company. More recently, though, Dish Network proposed a $25.5 billion merger with Sprint, which would create a hybrid company offering television, home Internet, wireless Internet, and voice.
Even with the loss of 560,000 subscribers from January through March, Sprint's losses in the quarter narrowed and the carrier lost $643 million, whereas it lost $863 million in the same quarter last year. At the end of the quarter, Sprint had 31.3 million customers on contract paying an average of $61.47 per month.
Apple's iPhone actually brought in a considerable number of new customers, Sprint said, with 43 percent of iPhone customers being new to the carrier, compared with 38 percent in the holiday quarter.
In the previous quarter, the 2.2 million iPhone units Sprint moved accounted for more than 50 percent of the carrier's smartphone sales. This past quarter, though, Sprint's 1.5 million iPhone sales made up just 30 percent of the five million total smartphone units sold.
The iPhone represents a substantial investment on Sprint's part, as the company committed $15.5 billion over four years to subsidizing the cost of the device beginning in 2011. That expenditure to this day impacts the carrier's bottom line, though Sprint expects to make up for the cost over time with subscriber revenue.
Sprint shares have more than tripled over the past ten months, as the carrier is now at the center of a bidding war. Late last year, Japan's Softbank made a $20 billion bid for Sprint, which would see it taking a 70 percent stake in the company. More recently, though, Dish Network proposed a $25.5 billion merger with Sprint, which would create a hybrid company offering television, home Internet, wireless Internet, and voice.
Comments
AT&T iPhone gets 80%
Verizon iPhone gets 55%
Sprint iPhone gets 30%
Odd. I understand the AT&T being so strong but it really puzzles me on Sprint and Verizon being so different.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven N.
Lets see:
AT&T iPhone gets 80%
Verizon iPhone gets 55%
Sprint iPhone gets 30%
Odd. I understand the AT&T being so strong but it really puzzles me on Sprint and Verizon being so different.
ATT said yesterday that the iPhone line accounted for 67% of last quarters smartphones, or about 4M in total.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven N.
Lets see:
AT&T iPhone gets 80%
Verizon iPhone gets 55%
Sprint iPhone gets 30%
Odd. I understand the AT&T being so strong but it really puzzles me on Sprint and Verizon being so different.
LTE
The financial damage Nextel did also delayed network upgrades, resulting in abysmal speeds which is being rectified with the LTE deployment.
I've been buying S since it hit the 2.65 mark because the causes of their problems have been obvious, fixable, and management has been making good decisions (Network Vision, iPhone, etc)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatorguy
ATT said yesterday that the iPhone line accounted for 67% of last quarters smartphones, or about 4M in total.
no. 4.8.
Quote:
Originally Posted by xenadu
Sprint's subscriber loss is expected; they were running with two networks, doubling their costs. They are shutting down Nextel iDEN, thus solving the problem. Unfortunately when you do that, some people are going to jump to another carrier. The actual Sprint brand is adding subscribers.
The financial damage Nextel did also delayed network upgrades, resulting in abysmal speeds which is being rectified with the LTE deployment.
I've been buying S since it hit the 2.65 mark because the causes of their problems have been obvious, fixable, and management has been making good decisions (Network Vision, iPhone, etc)
Exactly. Buying Nextel was a huge mistake and as that IDEN 800 network is closed down and being repurposed for 800 CDMA & LTE those remaining Nextel customers continue to leave. Network vision is a lot bigger project that simply adding LTE to existing towers like Verizon are doing. It will take longer and be more expensive but once it is complete Sprint will have a very robust, fast, and efficient network second to none.Through Network Vision Sprint will install new network equipment and software that brings together multiple spectrum bands, or airwaves, on a single, multimode base station. The new equipment makes it easy to accommodate additional spectrum bands.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OllieWallieWhiskers
LTE
No idea what you are trying to say there. All of them have LTE though Verizon has a much bigger lead on their LTE. But even on Verizon 50% of iPhones sold were the 4 and 4S which lack LTE.
Because Android has been on there for so long. Is it really that hard to understand?
And do what exactly?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatorguy
ATT said yesterday that the iPhone line accounted for 67% of last quarters smartphones, or about 4M in total.
Perhaps it's about time that you changed this?
"Fornecedor de verdade"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatorguy
ATT said yesterday that the iPhone line accounted for 67% of last quarters smartphones, or about 4M in total.
"AT&T sold 4.8 million iPhones last quarter, a mixed blessing for the carrier because of the resulting subsidy payments."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/at-t-s-sales-miss-estimates-amid-decline-in-landline-business.html
"Of the 6 million devices that AT&T sold, the carrier said 4.8 million of those were iPhones."
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/04/23/att-q1-2013-earnings/
4.8/6.0 = 80%.
Do you have a different source?
Verizon had 4 million iPhones.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
Because Android has been on there for so long. Is it really that hard to understand?
I don't think that is reason. The same could be said about Verizon. The iPhone came to Verizon about 6 months before Sprint. It was also about 6 months before the iPhone 4S release. The iPhone came to Sprint to coincide with the release of the 4S even though the 4 was also offered. That was less than 2 years ago for Sprint and more than 2 years ago for Verizon. The upgrade cycle has far more to do with it. Many Sprint customers will soon be eligible for upgrades soon so you will probably see a much higher percentage of iPhone sales especially once the 5S or 6 is released.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
Because Android has been on there for so long. Is it really that hard to understand?
Verizon was fully dominated by Android and the iPhone crushed it pretty fast. What is different with Sprint? Fledgling LTE? Coverage? Cost (Sprint is cheaper than Verizon/AT&T)?
Quote:
Originally Posted by piot
Perhaps it's about time that you changed this?
"Fornecedor de verdade"
He has always been a source of bias not so much truth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven N.
"AT&T sold 4.8 million iPhones last quarter, a mixed blessing for the carrier because of the resulting subsidy payments."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-23/at-t-s-sales-miss-estimates-amid-decline-in-landline-business.html
"Of the 6 million devices that AT&T sold, the carrier said 4.8 million of those were iPhones."
http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/04/23/att-q1-2013-earnings/
4.8/6.0 = 80%.
Do you have a different source?
Verizon had 4 million iPhones.
According to 9to5
AT&T’s Q1 results revealed sales of 4m iPhones, or 67% of all its smartphone sales. This is down from 84% in the final quarter of 2012 which is of course the holiday quarter where people give and receive gifts…
http://9to5ma*.com/2013/04/24/att-and-sprint-both-report-falling-iphone-sales-percentages-in-q1-2013/
Put a c in place of the asterisk.
Just because they said it doesn't make it so of course. That's just the source for my post.
Then why the difference in numbers? Why are iPhones only 55% of the sales on VZW, but almost 70% on AT&T?
That would make sense if everyone upgraded at the same time or all phones were released at the same time. Out of 100 customers that were either new or upgrading on Sprint only 30 chose the iPhone. How it that influenced by the upgrade cycles? Do you really believe that they bought Win phones or BBs? Or is it more likely that they went with Android?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gatorguy
According to 9to5
Great! So they ain't a Fornecedor de verdade either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dasanman69
Then why the difference in numbers? Why are iPhones only 55% of the sales on VZW, but almost 70% on AT&T?
Since AT&T were the exclusive iPhone carrier for several years they managed to gain subscribers from other carriers specifically to get an iPhone. Now that all the carriers have the iPhone that is no longer an issue and you may start to see some leave AT&T again to go back to their former carriers. Right now everything is all in flux since Verizon is the only carrier with a pretty developed LTE network. But by the end of the year AT&T and Sprint will both have substantial LTE coverage as well then people can start comparing plans, costs, in addition to coverage and you might start to see far more churn.
9to5 Mac is wrong I think. WSJ says 4.8M up from 4.3M from the same quarter last year.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323735604578441141770990394.html