GoBigRed79

$10 says BGR ignores this report

I would think large buys like that would be an insider or Softbank themselves. Can imagine an activist buying up shares with Softbank already holding most of the company.

I have not checked resale trends lately, but my guess is they can be more aggressive with the iPhone leasing programs because historically the iPhone maintains a high resale value vs. android phones. Also, like it or not, iPhone drives a lot of traffic. Having the best iPhone deal out there is not a bad thing. I like how they are getting ahead of the next iPhone announcement with this program.

So if I am reading this correctly if you are currently on an iPhone 6 lease there is no early upgrade. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This. Unless it could be proven that Softbank, in their role of majority owner, was intentionally trying to depress the stock value with the goal of going private, there would not be much of a case. The common shareholders rarely win in these cases.

Apple will replace the battery for $79 ( no extra cost under warranty if you have Applecare). Not cheep but if it gets another year or two out of an otherwise working phone it is not a bad option. Today's phones can last much longer then two years. I am still on an iPad 2 I bought 4 years ago and it works just fine for what I do.

And this is one of the reasons Apple stock is under pressure lately. Analysts believe Apple will have to compete on price as subsidy pricing goes away and lower priced handsets get better. A good chunk of Apple profit is from the fat iPhone margins they have enjoyed the past few years. Estimates put margins on the iPhone 6 in the 50% - 60% range. http://fortune.com/2014/09/23/morgan-stanley-chinas-favorite-iphone-is-apples-most-profitable/

There are two options to get out of a lease. You can buy out the lease, which is just the remaining lease payments, and return the phone. Or you can buy out the lease (the remaining payments) plus pay the purchase option fee which is the fee you would pay at the end of the lease term to keep the phone. If you pay both of those, the phone is yours. For example, say you have 12 mo left on a $20 a mo lease. To just end the lease early and turn the phone in, you would pay $240. To End the lease early and keep the phone, you would pay $240 plus the $200 purchase option fee = $440.

As long as you were on Sprint there was no roaming. That was something actually pretty unique to Sprint at the time.

Ha! My first Sprint plan in 1998 I think was 120 anytime minutes, no N&W or anything like that, obviously no data and it was $40 a month. And that was considered good pricing.

This is one reason Apple's stock is under pressure right now. Growth is slowing as the market saturates and with subsidy pricing going away it's more likely they will have to compete on price, and the fat margins on iPhone will decrease. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So far the new beta has been quite stable for me. No crashes. Still a stutter every now or then, but that is reduced. Ringtone issue is fixed. Wi-Fi assist is cool.

Public Beta 3 is out. Same build as dev beta 5. So far my 6 seems snappier then PB 2. I will give a more detailed update after having some time to play around. Sprint carrier is 20.6.17

And considering some resorts/hotels charge upwards of $15-$20 a day for Wi-Fi access, this is really not a bad deal at all. And like you when on vacation I am not on my phone much anyway. Just nice to have to be able to text, check email, and use google maps when needed.

I think the model of moving to financing plans instead of subsidy and offering a lower bill once the phone is paid off is going to keep a lot of people on phones longer. Before, you were kinda foolish to not upgrade as soon as you could because you were paying the subsidy as part of your plan no matter what. Now if you keep your phone once it is paid, you get to pay the lower rate. So now there is more incentive for many to keep phones longer.

I am currently on a lease for my iPhone 6 and I would not be surprised to see Sprint come out and allow those on a current iPhone 6 lease to move up to a 6S lease when that phone comes out. iPhone has a good enough residual value to allow it and with SoftBank's connection to Brightstar I would think Sprint would be in the best position to pull something like this off. Not saying it will actually happen, but it would not shock me either.

Wonder it there will be a point the stock gets cheep enough that SoftBank just buys the rest of it up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It was called a "Premium" data fee and was introduced with the EVO 4G launch, hence why a lot of people think of it as a 4G fee. But it was for all smartphone upgrades after the EVO launch.

More Cost Cutting. NBA deal dropped. http://www.kansascity.com/news/business/article27309760.html

The problem was WiMax just never became that widespread. A lot of markets never got it or just got protection site coverage. And when you consider Sprint started charging the $10 "Premium" data fee while at the same time many customers were experiencing a deteriorating network, I can understand why a lot of people felt burned.

How is the public beta for a daily driver? I am really tempted to try it out. What bugs are driving you guys nuts? From what I am reading it seems pretty stable.

EVO 4G release in 2010 is when I recall it really starting to get bad.

I have a buddy who always buys AppleCare with his iPhone and right before the two years is up goes in and gets a battery replacement service done so he can get another couple of years out of his phone with a fresh battery. Me, my gadgets are my only real "vice". 2 years with the same one and I get antsy.

Honestly I don't think it is much different then doing an installment plan. Either leasing or installments if you damage the phone you will have to pay off the loan/lease. So in either case you should have insurance if you think you need it. And the lease really is not much more expensive then full retail or installments. IF i wanted to buy my 64gb iPhone at the end of the lease it would be $200. The total price would be $800, about $50 more then retail. But I wont keep a phone after 2 years so that is unlikely I will pay that. So right now with my 10 line Framily I am paying $41 for an unlimited plan (Employee disc on the data) + $25 for my lease= $66 + tax a month for my plan and phone. And I did not have to put anything down for the phone. The only real time installments make more sense is if you know you are keeping your phone longer then two years. And I choose not to pay full retail upfront as long as interest free or good leasing deals are offered. I guess I see the lease/installments as the evolution of the old two year contracts.

Just wondering if folks are still having issues with the Wi-Fi calling on the iPhone? When it first came out, I and several others were having issues with not being able to place outbound calls and inbound callers getting a number disconnected message. Removing the feature from the acct was the only way to resolve. Is this still happening to people? I am not sure I want to activate again and have issues.