Nokia’s Weber devises U.S. plan of attack
If Nokia’s big challenge this year is getting back in with US consumers and operators, it should be a busy 2012 for Chris Weber.
Weber – who heads the Finnish company’s business here – took a moment with us at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to lay out some of his plans a day after AT&T announced it would sell Nokia’s Lumia 900, and a day before the Lumia 710 goes on sale at T-Mobile USA.
Weber told Reuters that he has to first find a way to convince enough consumers to at least try out Nokia’s Windows Phone-based devices, to at least give them a chance.
In this regard, he expects a lot of help from T-Mobile in the form of flagship phone status in their stores. This involves 6 Lumia display locations in each store, a poster out front, and a center island display to top it all off. At AT&T, Weber says, details on a promotional assist from the carrier are “still being worked out.”
But if the AT&T keynote announcement of eight LTE devices yesterday was anything to go by, Weber may have to fight harder for attention there. Weber also needs to gain attention at other U.S. operators, such as Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel.
To do this, the executive promised to bring out a broader range of phones and more devices exclusive to carriers.
“We’re going to have a broad portfolio with multiple devices, mutiple price points, multiple user experiences and multip operators. That’s a lot of multipes,” Weber said. Asked about other operators, he said: “Certainly Verizon is a very important partner in that equation.”
Sprint: When all else fails, call a magician
After bigger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T stole the limelight at the Consumer Electronics Show with promises of multiple advanced phones for this year, now Sprint Nextel is trying to grab some attention with a stunt of its own.
In an intentionally mysterious invitation, the No. 3 U.S. mobile provider says it has enlisted the help of illusionist David Blaine to show the world how “Sprint’s making the Impossible Possible” at a New York Event scheduled for February 7.
Sprint’s promising that the event will be “a lot of fun” but it is mum on whether Blaine plans relive his Times Square encasement in a block of ice or his vertigo stunt in Bryant Park.
Instead the operator, which has been working for years to narrow customer losses, will embark on “yet another industry first.”
Will it finally report net growth in contract customer numbers? Sign an iPhone distribution deal? Make the troublesome Nextel network disappear? Or simply unveil a new gadget?
It seems most likely that Sprint will unwrap a new high-speed wireless phone. So if you’ve any ideas on what kind of phone requires a magician to illustrate, do let us know.
Photograph: Reuters of David Blaine performing a stunt in Central Park in 2008
A PC for less than a buck
Ultraportable, Web-centric netbooks PCs have been on the market for a relatively short amount of time, but prices continue to fall, as new models flood the market and wireless carriers move to subsidize the purchase cost.
And now, in what is likely a sign of things to come, a netbook can be had for mere pocket change.
Best Buy is currently offering an HP netbook — the Compaq Mini 110c-1040DX — for the low-low price of 99 cents with the purchase of a 2-year data plan from Sprint. AT&T and Verizon already offer similar subsidies for netbooks–just not so steep. The same netbook will cost you $200 with 2-year activation with Verizon or AT&T. And without a contract, the device will run you $390.
Although the Compaq netbook — a 10-inch device with an Intel Atom processor, a 16-gigabyte solid-state drive and a Webcam — costs less than a pack of gum, the data plan will pinch the pocketbook. Sprint charges $60 a month for a 3G plan that includes 5 GB of data.
Still, if Sprint’s 99-cent netbook gambit finds enough takers, expect to see more and more offers like it popping up.
Bold move on the part of HP & Sprint.
As a consumer I’m glad to see it but the specs on these netbooks still haven’t sold me.
I’d rather just buy a smartphone.
Sprint: Android not good enough yet
Sprint may be having a lot of problems marketing its own brand in the last few years, but according to Chief Executive Dan Hesse, Google’s Android mobile operating system isn’t perfect either.
He told the National Press Club in Washington that he didn’t think Android in its current form is ”good enough to put the Sprint brand on it.”
But Hesse promised to sell a phone powered by Android “at some time in the future.” Sprint is part of the alliance of about 30 companies that said they would support Google’s development of a mobile phone operating system. T-Mobile USA started selling the first phone powered by Android earlier this week. (Reporting by Kim Dixon)
(Photograph: Reuters)
Cable, Sprint up ante on rivals
Two sectors may be getting a new lease on life after the Wall Street Journal reported news that a handful of the top U.S. cable operators are exploring a joint venture with Sprint Nextel and Clearwire to create a national high-speed wireless network to fight off the telcos for subscribers.
Without a big infusion of cash, WiMax technology could be a non-starter in the U.S. So far, Sprint has planned to introduce the service in three markets.
Expanding beyond that may prove a tough sell for Sprint shareholders who had widely criticized its commitment last year to spend $5 billion on WiMax by 2010. Sprint is also struggling to keep its existing customers from leaving.
But with an estimated $3 billion in potential investment from Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks, Google and Intel, Sprint and Clearwire are poised to make life uncomfortable for AT&T, Verizon, DirecTV and EchoStar.
The cable industry has also dabbled in offering wireless services over the past few years, notably with Sprint. But with wireless penetration in the United States at over 80 percent, coming to market with a me-too offering won’t cut it anymore.
Is this the dawn of a new broadband arms race?
(WSJ)
