DanielB

Oh, nice! Was there a thread on this? Or an FCC link I can visit? Sorry, total n00b when it comes to device certifications!

Several Sprint corporate store employees have now told me "off the record" that the iPad Pro is indeed headed to Sprint. Anyone else hearing this, or have an actual confirmation of this?

It essentially disappears! Think of it as buying a new car for $20,000 that's worth $20,000. The next year, the value falls to $15,000 - which means if you sold it, you would only receive $15,000 back in exchange for your initial $20,000 "investment." The difference between cars (and other depreciating assets) and the stock market is that stocks can move up and down in value from day to day - most other assets do not, and some (like cars) fall in value over time, rarely rising again until 30+ years into the future and almost never recouping their original value.

The key to investing is to remain emotionally detached from your investment. I am a raving Sprint fan as a customer. But my reality as a customer of Sprint is very different from my reality as an investor in Sprint.

You guys confuse investing concepts. I do it professionally, how about you?

I worked for Brown for five years. They couldn't really do much for me. They did have some nice whiteboards, though. I ship all of my eBay business through the United States Postal Service and wouldn't have it any other way. They run circles around UPS and FedEx in terms of price and transit time. I've seen what goes on behind the scenes at UPS - we lost sh!t like crazy, same as FedEx and even the USPS. They're all the same, so choose the cheapest!

LOL. Yes it does. As long as they are a publicly listed company, it does. Softbank is the majority shareholder, not the only shareholder...you would do well not to confuse those two points.

I did the same. Have the Samsung chip. Anecdotally speaking, it's really not bad. Compared to the 6 Plus, at least, battery life and performance are even.

Wow, that would be quite a difference if true. In all fairness, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of my sources. If that's the case, then definitely cut away!

I hope you're right. Were Sprint in a better financial position, my regard for the Sprint Shacks would change as much as it would for the Direct2U program. But here's my concern....my understanding from what I've been told is that the KC HQ is already operating pretty lean - didn't think Sprint had too many additional back-office jobs left to cut?

Nick, was just an example bud. There are many efficiencies that can be had in a store that cannot be had in a one-to-one environment. That's my point. I grant that the average person does not understand the difference between fixed and variable costs and why that is so important here...but trust me when I say it is. You bring up Best Buy Mobile and that, my friend, is where I think the most opportunity for a carrier like Sprint lies. They offload most of the acquisition costs to the third-party retailer and what remains can be paid to the retailer as an incentive for the production of a new customer. Almost a win-win for everyone involved. I've seen a lot more Sprint Reseller stores pop up in my area over the past 6 months, so it seems to be a strategy they are going to employ pretty widely (at least in some areas).

Let me also add...on the face of it, Direct2U is not a bad idea. It's a great idea actually. There are many benefits to having your brand plastered all over cute cars driving around major metros all day, and there are some long-term benefits to such a hands-on customer service approach, for sure. But for the reasons I have highlighted above, it's not a good (or great) idea for Sprint at this time.

Here's a new way to look at it that may be useful for some... An important metric on which I think Sprint will renew focus is cost per acquisition, or the amount of money it has to spend to acquire each new customer. On this measure alone, I think Direct2U will fail to pass muster when compared with other channels. Here's why...not trying to get too far into the finance geek weeds here, but humor me for a moment and consider that a retail store has a much higher proportion of fixed to variable costs. The opposite is true for something like Direct2U. This means that for every new customer served in a store, the average cost to serve (or cost per acquisition for new service) decreases. With Direct2U, the costs actually increase with each new customer serviced. Why? In addition to its higher proportion of fixed costs, a store has "levers," so to speak, that it can pull to make each business day as efficient as possible (for example, asking a customer to wait while their phone hard resets so the next customer in line may be helped). Contrast this with the fact that each Direct2U staffer is 100% tied up on just a single customer until that interaction has completed...there is no multi-tasking, or multi-servicing, as we nerds like to call it. I'm sorry, folks...it's just not financially efficient. And Sprint needs financially efficient customer acquisition initiatives. At this stage, they must pursue must-have tactics to execute their strategies - not the nice-to-haves. And from a financial analysis perspective, chances are very good that Direct2U is a nice-to-have.

Ascertion, I agree completely! It's a great, feel-good idea in terms of PR and winning over new customers who may be hesitant to make the move, but the expense of it worries me greatly. Further, it sets an expectation with each of these new customers that Sprint will hand-hold throughout the relationship, not just at setup - this is costly. I don't think these are good customers to bring on when evaluated in this light.

(Still having a quoting issue with my browser...) MacinJosh, fair enough. Perhaps some of them should be kept open...perhaps in exchange for outright abandoning many of the stores, Sprint can take over the "Shack" locations it wants entirely (like those in Vegas) from Standard General. I don't know. But the fact of the matter is, the effort is costly and does not appear to be producing a positive ROI on the whole. ^^ This is what shareholders care about. As a consumer, I would understand your frustration with having your only local corporate Sprint store option taken away. EDIT: Let me also add....With job cuts included in the $2-$2.5 bil OE reduction, one can deduce there are really only two areas of personnel to cut that make any significant difference in expense: call center and retail. This leads me to believe Sprint may already be thinking of getting rid of its SprintShacks. Again, I think the new CFO is leading much of this cost reduction effort. He has replaced the former complacency that was present in that role, and brought a new financial discipline to the company that is sorely needed at this particular stage. No, you don't want numbers guys making strategic decisions, but I have to imagine he is bringing insight to the fact that Sprint can really focus spending on only two areas right now (again, marketing and infrastructure). That's it.

I've just sent public tweets......my (unproven) theory is that with public visibility, they will respond more quickly than if I contacted them via DM.

^^ Vince, so unlike the HTC One M9! I feel for HTC, I really do. I used to love them!

I am absolutely loving my 6s Plus on Sprint....can't say that enough. Once I got the activation issues worked out, it has been attaching to LTE like a dream. I don't think any 2x CA is live in my market yet, but when it is OMG. Sprint is going to be able to leverage this iPhone into something great for themselves, PR-wise. It runs fantastically on their network.

At this point, it simply makes sense for Softbank to purchase the remainder of Sprint that they do not yet already own. Steps to immediately follow to significantly cut operating costs would include: Closure of the Direct2You program Closure of "SprintShacks" (at least the Sprint portion) - what I'm hearing from several "Shack" managers is that they're just not bringing in any Sprint business Less lenient customer service approach - I was in a corporate store the other day while a ghetto Sprint customer berated the staff and other waiting customers for over an hour while he waited...come to find out, all because he quit paying his bill and Sprint shut off his service. ENOUGH! Not every customer is a good customer and Sprint needs to start adopting policies that drive these customers away. They take up too much time and actually contribute to a negative brand image. This guy was on the phone with Sprint Care when I left - tying up yet another Sprint channel. IMHO, his account should be cut off permanently and he should not be approved for another postpaid account. Rename Sprint to Softbank USA and be done with it - the brand is beyond salvaging. I think the new CFO gets all of this, and much more...in fact, I think that's what's driving the $2 - $2.5 bil reduction in OE - I can't say it enough, that's the greatest move they've ever made (if it comes to fruition). At this point, Sprint needs to spend more on network development and marketing - that's it. They just don't have money to spare on other things until they are once again (CONSISTENTLY) cash-flow positive! I'm excited that their current management team understands this. Lastly, they cannot be afraid to fire retail-level and CS staff if performance is not up to par...this is vital.

For some reason my browser won't let me quote and it's killing me! Anyway, richy, that's just roaming on Verizon voice and SMS, right? Essentially no data and MMS? (At least, that's my understanding.)

This is a great point about Sprint store reps, mrknowitall526 (though I know not likely your intent). I'm lucky enough to have two pretty good Sprint corporate stores near me, but the others I've been to are terrible. In general (I know I'm making a blanket statement that is not true in 100% of cases), Sprint retail employees are simply horrible. That's why the news of cost cuts excites me....I think it's going to light a fire. There are still many unemployed people in this country who would thrive and excel as employees of Sprint retail - I'm hoping that with talk of cost cuts existing store employees have been put on notice to shape up or ship out!

I was lucky enough to get in touch with someone from Marci's department over the weekend. Sprint has indeed stopped selling the iPad Air 2 - any they have left for sale in stores are merely left-over stock that they would like to deplete as soon as possible. Having said this....if you want an iPad Air 2 of any color and any capacity on Sprint EasyPay, Best Buy can hook you up.

Being the tourist attraction that it is, I'm surprised they don't have even a single tower out there yet.

So I checked today when I was at the Sprint store...they only have a few 16 GB Air 2's left in stock in the store and the warehouses. 64 GB and 128 GB models in ALL colors are out - can't even be ordered. The store reps didn't have confirmation of this, but think Sprint is discontinuing their sale of the Air 2. The Mini 4 seems to be a big push for them, but it's just too small for my needs.

Man, I love Sprint. Went into the store at 10:00 and they got my iPhone straight in a jiffy!