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According to a report issued today by
the Wall Street Journal, Sprint will join AT&T and Verizon in offering iPhone
handsets starting this fall with the launch of Apple’s next-generation iPhone
5 handset. Sprint is currently the third-largest wireless carrier in the country,
behind Verizon and AT&T respectively. With more than fifty million customers,
Sprint represents a huge new market for Apple and its wildly-selling iPhone.
After launching the first iPhone handset exclusively with AT&T, Apple has continually
moved to add new carrier partners to continue its push to become the number-one
smartphone manufacturer in the world. Interestingly, the United States was the
first country to receive Apple’s iPhone in 2007, but the last to drop carrier
exclusivity which only happened in January of this year with the launch of the
CDMA iPhone 4 handset on Verizon. The rumor mill has been speculating that Sprint
and T-Mobile were possible new carriers that would be on board following the
launch of the iPhone 5; this new report from a source as reputable as the Wall
Street Journal seemingly confirms it. As T-Mobile is currently in merger negotiations
with AT&T, it’s likely that subscribers will have access to the iPhone in
the future anyway. Sprint currently operates its cellular network using the
same CDMA technology as Verizon. While this would indicate that Sprint should
be able to sell the same iPhone 5 handsets as Verizon does, many reports suggest
that Apple may do away with its multiple handsets instead offering a “world
phone†capable iPhone 5 that can connect to nearly every cellular company’s
network on the planet. A number of news outlets reported this week that app
developers have seen an iPhone model like this one reported in app usage logs,
so it’s likely that a single iPhone 5 handset will be offered to all of Apple’s
carrier partners. Receiving the hottest-selling smartphone on the planet couldn’t
come at a better time for Sprint, a company that has seen its customers leaving
in droves due to poor handset selection, and of course because they can’t
get an iPhone. AT&T and Verizon have been quick to scoop up these lost customers;
AT&T reported half-year sales of over 7 million iPhone handsets (iPhone 3GS
and iPhone 4) through June 30, while Verizon sold about 4.5 million iPhone 4
handsets during the same time period. Finally, a number of reports came out
in the last day that suggest Apple may be planning to release a cheaper version
of its iPhone 4 handset along with the next-generation iPhone 5 around the end
of September. It’s currently unclear if this less-expensive handset would
be offered to new carrier partners such as Sprint, or if it would only be offered
to carriers that already sell the iPhone 4. As usual, Apple had no comment surrounding
the news that Sprint would be joining its huge family of carrier partners. As
the clock ticks toward the inevitable launch of the next iPhone, we shall all
see soon enough if today’s news is true.