However, a look at Apple’s (and Job’s) history and clearly this has not been a driving force in Apple’s success. This is only a recent phenomena.

A closer look at Apple Computer history and one will see a cashed strapped wholly innovative company; one which made expensive insanely great products but struggled for user adoption and market share. They almost went belly-up and were driven into obscurity by Microsoft.

IMO, Apple has been a company that runs in fear. Forget the last 8 years and that’s their DNA. That’s why today’s Apple retains the $80 B war chest, defends its patents and products, has a thumb on the supply chain, and coerces partners. As far as the closed systems, it’s easy to say it’s about control and money, but its more about control of the user experience. When it’s no longer that, they’re done.

As a long term Apple user, it’s a good day but it is also frightening to witness their success. The media (and everyday Windows users) used to trash Apple as an OS and company. Now, Apple is generally lauded by the media (the same Windows media which used to trash them daily), but called a bully by a subset of consumers.

I only hope that they don’t get too far away from their roots. They got where they are by playing offense, not defense.

As for the data speed issues, here’s what I know… Every wireless network has places where the network works well and places where it doesn’t. There are places where a Verizon phone works well and a Sprint phone doesn’t, and there are other places where a Sprint phone works well and a Verizon phone doesn’t. (You can substitute AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, etc. into the above sentence and it will still be true.) Here’s an example where, in one place, Sprint had the fastest network: http://gizmodo.com/5849953/iphone-4s-test-notes-data-speeds-wow-its-slow

Let me try an analogy. When digital television came out, with High Def, all TV makers started building HD into their high end TVs. It would be foolishness for them to come out with a high end TV that didn’t have HD. For a few years, they still made lower end TVs that didn’t have HD, but all of their high end TVs had HD. Some folks didn’t really want to use HD - maybe they were just watching videos from a VCR, or maybe they only had rabbit ears and couldn’t get any HD stations, but if they wanted a high end TV, they got HD with it. Why would a TV manufacturer make a high end TV that didn’t include HD?

In the same way, we’ve been selling 4G handsets for over a year now, and since then (except for the iPhone) it would be foolishness to not include 4G in any of our high end handsets. For folks that don’t want to use 4G - no problem, these high end handsets support 3G as well as any 3G-only handsets and it’s easy to turn off the 4G. I understand that no other carriers have been making 4G handsets anywhere close to as long as Sprint, so most of their portfolio is only 3G. THAT DOESN’T MAKE THEIR PORTFOLIO BETTER! That’s like saying a high end Toshiba TV is better than a high end Sony TV, just because the Toshiba LACKS HD. That’s silly. You aren’t paying more for the 4G handset. You aren’t paying more for the 4G service. You’re just getting a 4G option that you can choose to ignore.

What that means is Sprint is pretty much duping current customers running off Clearwire’s network even if they’re duping cheaper than Ma Bell and Big Red.

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But to Zach if your reading this I guess you might as well spring for 4G since all smartphone users carry the cost. When Evo 4G was intro’d in 2010 as the first 4G handset only 4G handsets took an extra data fee. After complaining and Sprint denying it was a “4G tax” they decided to spring the fee for everyone else so everyone pays the same which was a dirty trick. Getting the iPhone on the network and keeping unlimited data had a part in this.

Watch out though that 4G is unlimited but 3G has an artificial cap: 5 GB. If you exceed 5 GB’s Sprint has the right to terminate you. So in many ways they falsely advertise they don’t cap or throttle like the Twin Bells and T-Mobile. They just kick you out.

Fun Fact: Twin bells refer to Verizon and AT&T. Both are basically reshaped remnants of the broken up AT&T monopoly of old.

That said Sprint’s a great service. It’s just that their network isn’t impressive. You don’t get the pure speed of data like Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile.

What you get is -reliability- and kind of a cheaper bill. So I would recommend Sprint. But never glorify them more than they deserve.

Oh and one more thing, hope you don’t miss the referral plan offer on Russ’s site. Would be a missed opportunity as you’re on one of Sprint’s leader’s websites already. The referral plan if you don’t know gets you a discounted plan separate from other customers and does give some nice savings through a contract. Go to the website, enter the code, and sign up. That is if you decided to go to Sprint Nextel over the other Big 3.

Hope I’ve helped you make an informed decision and that you can help others.

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Back to you Mr. Vice President of Strategy. The plight for new 3G handsets by a good portion of customers is true and the grudge against Sprint for applying the smartphone tax to all 3G handsets is true. It’ll be awhile before it shifts as with 2G to 3G customers.

I want to move on a moment to the SERO Premium plan There’s one little tidbit Sprint missed in its confusion to define extra fees. SERO Premium was introduced close to the $10 tax and fills in the role of being the $10 tax for smartphones upped from regular SERO while opening up top tier 3G phones to customers. But the extra other $10’s fills in the 4G data role.

This ultimately shows these two are seperate taxes and Sprint took the oppurtunity to charge customers more. It’s now “fair” to all customers but now everyone takes the burden of a 4G network rollout and the few who use the most data.

Bad show on Sprint’s part not to clarify motives.

I also do hope new handsets aren’t outfitted with Wimax. Sure you’ll run the two networks simultaneously but like iDen one day it”ll become a burden. 3G-only or a locked LTE option that can become unlocked by customer choice when LTE launched in mid-2012 is a better idea.

Otherwise I can see backlash from the usual standard 2 year customers where suddenly the 4G that was hailed as the best and first 4G network is replaced by the standard AT&T and Verizon were advertising all along.

It works. A 4yr old can operate an iphone. People are free to get on with their lives v. wasting their time trying to figure out their phone. Sadly no other phone manufacturer has seen this as a competitive feature to emulate.

I would like to see more competition for Apple but as long as key features, like user friendlenes are dismissed as “fads” it won’t happen anytime soon.

I’m one of those customers narrowly saved by Sprint getting the iphone because I was so frustrated by Blackberries and Androids. I want simple and what works enough to pay for it. What’s the point of a phone plan at any price if the phone isn’t a joy to use? iPhone’s are a joy to use.

I still don’t understand why you’re complaining that I didn’t point to any 3G devices. Who would buy a 3G-only phone if they can get an awesome 4G phone (and just use it on 3G, if that’s what they want) for anywhere from $99 to $199?

Of course Verizon has lots of 3G-only phones because they haven’t had 4G as long as Sprint has. I bet within a year none of their high end phones will be 3G-only, why should they be?

The “zooming fast” comment was probably referencing a combination of network speed and processor speed. Even on 3G, a high end smartphone with a fast processor will seem to work a lot faster than a lower end smartphone with a slower processor.

If you’re interested in the Droid X2, you might check out the Photon 4g - see this comparison: http://geekaphone.com/compare/Motorola-PHOTON-4G-vs-Motorola-DROID-X2

If you’re interested in the Incredible 2, you might check out the Epic Touch - compare http://www.phonearena.com/phones/Samsung-Epic-4G-Touch_id5537 to http://www.phonearena.com/phones/HTC-DROID-Incredible-2_id5173

I hope this helps!

That’s what I was told.

So if I got it right there’s no extra fee for 4G? Also thanks it’s nice to now 4G can be turned off. If there’s no extra fee for 4G data like on Verizon I’m willing to buy a 4G device.

But if there is I can wait since again I heard there’s some serious battery life stuff from quite a few co-workers and friends. As in 2-3 hours before the cell’s dead. And like you said LTE is coming so I can wait for that since again I work in a stuffed office all day so there’s wifi there and at home and it’s a ton fast. Faster than what I get on V any day of the week.

Either way I’m shopping in the $199 zone which is basically the price of all high-end phones. I’m not really interested in an iPhone because I own an iPad 2 and Mac as it is. If not I would of bought it since the reps did tell me it’s a 3G phone.

Fact that you didn’t point me to any 3G devices is kind of what I’m getting at Russ. On Verizon I have choices for everything from Droid Incredible 2 to Motorola Droid X 2 which pretty much are on par with your 4G devices barring speed. I don’t know if 4G is for anything else other than speed but every rep I’ve talked to always tries to sell me on quote how zooming fast it is so that’s what I assume.

Thanks for getting back to me by the way. Appreciate it. Deciding between 3 carriers is a toughy. I’m talking between a T-Mobile rep and you basically. T-Mobile seems to have a great 3G selection. Problem is their coverage just a few miles away out gets bad. And I visit a lot of family in the troubled areas. I’m pretty picky about dropped calls. Which is why I left Cingular for Verizon.

Sprint’s ideal to save some money and get good coverage close to Verizon’s. My friend with the Evo 3D says he’s only ever had three dropped calls. It seems like you guys and T-Mobile are on opposite ends of problems.

I don’t understand why you’re shopping for a 3G-only phone. All of our 4G phones work perfectly well on our 3G network (and WiFi). We don’t charge extra on a monthly basis for 4G. And, if you really don’t want to use our 4G network, you can easily turn 4G off, so why wouldn’t you be looking at our awesome lineup of 4G devices?

We launched 4G back in 2008 (~2 years ahead of Verizon, ~3 years ahead of AT&T, and T-Mobile doesn’t have enough spectrum to ever launch 4G - as they’ve explained to regulators), so for the past couple of years, (almost) all of our great phones have had 4G built in. The one exception is the iPhone.

So, if you’re willing to look at our 4G portfolio (which will work perfectly well on our 3G network), here are our top phones:
- iPhone 4S
- iPhone 4
- HTC EVO 4G
- Samsung Galaxy S II Epic Touch
- HTC EVO 3D
- Samsung Epic 4G
- Samsung Conquer 4G
- HTC EVO Design 4G
- Motorola PHOTON 4G
- Samsung Nexus S 4G
(except for some iPhone models, all of these are less than $200)

You have to admit, that’s an awesome lineup of devices and miles ahead of the Marquee and Arrive.

BTW - our WiMax 4G network will continue to be available for our customers for years to come, even as we build out our LTE network.

So, what am I missing?

I mean there’s 4G but Verizon’s LTE is shown to be superior and from google there were a ton of articles saying Sprint’s moving on from their current tech called Wimax. And from friends I’ve learned that it’s a large battery killer anyways and the $300 marks for all 4G phones weren’t worth it. I don’t really use data on the go anyways. Always have wifi whether at work or home and it’s way more screaming fast than 3G so 4G isn’t something I want yet.

As a Verizon customer I looked recently into Sprint’s coverage and found it was pretty much on par and nice rates to boot that I calculated even if it’s maybe a mere $10 less a month over a contract period would be a nice few hundred bucks to keep in my wallet.

So I drove a few days ago to a Sprint store whose directions I got from Google and walked in. Employees were helpful enough though strike me as a little dumb to say the least. Really what I could find were phones like LG Marqee or HTC Arrive and apparently they were best of the bunch. The employees cautioned me of the Arrive and said the OS was unpopular with other customers. There were some Blackberries and about it.

The lack of selection was really odd for me. I have an HTC Incredible and apparently this Marqee thing that recently just launched has pretty much the same specs and it’s the tail end of 2011. I’m not willing to dish out money that for the same price can get me one of the best phones currently out on V.

Maybe I’m just used to walking into one of Verizons stores and being overwhelmed with a ton of exciting choices from HTC and Samsung. And it’s not like those phones aren’t cool and don’t sell. They do, it takes me hours just to get a rep to speak with. So you’d think Sprint would also have a great selection.

I looked at your 4G lineup too and it was fine but I’m not interested in a service that’ll get replaced soon. Plus I imagine 3G customers make up the bulk for all carriers compared to this new 4G services so in the end it’s all perplexing that Sprint doesn’t have any high-end stuff from people like HTC or other good manufacturers.

I mean I’ve been out of contract for a few months and I’ve been looking at Sprint and T-Mobile as choices since I live in a great area covered by all carriers. It’s not like I don’t have 200 dollars to spend on a new phone either. Sprint doesn’t seem to really cater to people who want great phones on 3G though like on Verizon which kind of is a drag.

Really do hope you guys launch something good Russ because I’m ready to upgrade right now and probably will either buy something new on Verizon or if you guys or T-Mobile have something good join up with you. Hoping to get some insight so you guys don’t launch something great and I go Doh! and have any regret since whatever I go with with I’m stuck to for 2 years.