A new article from Beatweek outlines how Sprint’s unlimited data package and value pricing would be a powerful selling point for the iPhone 5. But Sprint’s price-leading business model could also be what keeps Apple from blessing them with the next iPhone.
For current iPhone users, seeing the iPhone 5 come to Sprint is not much of a focus. After all, those of us with a legit iPhone invariably have a contract and/or account with either AT&T or Verizon. That being said, Beatweek‘s new piece makes some interesting points about what Sprint would bring to the table for the iPhone 5 — namely, unlimited data plans: “But the carrier could easily be quietly working with Apple to make a Sprint iPhone 5 happen, as the carrier with the unlimited data and the quasi-4G may want to avoid being the only carrier without the iPhone and the only one relying solely on Android.”
At present, data usage for the iCloud-equipped iPhone 5 is a big unknown. I’ve done some research on the issue around the web, and there simply is no consensus on whether cloud storage and computing will dramatically up the ante on how much data we swap on our our iPhones. Some analysts are quick to point out that the average iPhone user rarely crosses the 2GB data usage per month, and that iOS 5 appears to have plenty of easily-accessible options for turning syncing off and on to stem the flow of data.
Others, however, suggest that, while options to moderate the flow of data on the iPhone 5 seem viable, the reality will be that users will want — and even need — to have an open data flow in order to tap into the wonders and magic of “the cloud;” having to constantly toggle syncing will become cumbersome, and users will just “leave it on.”
Given this possibility, iPhone users who are currently at the end of their contracts — as well as iPhone 5 hopefuls who are ready to get onboard the iPhone train with the 5 — could be easily enticed by a Sprint iPhone 5 that would offer unlimited data. As Verizon and AT&T pull away from unlimited data options, Sprint could offer a price and plan that would make it the most attractive carrier for the iPhone 5.
Of course, that could also be the primary reason why Sprint won’t get the iPhone 5.
The Main Purpose of iCloud: Raking In the Big Bucks
As consumers, we get ultra-excited with new technologies like iCloud. And as well we should: cloud computing and storage is the wave of the future. But let’s take our consumer hats off for a moment and think like The Man: Apple created iCloud for one purpose: to rake in big bucks. That isn’t a criticism on my part — I have no qualms with Apple making money, and they do it quite well. But because iCloud is tied directly into data usage, and data usage is a service that mobile carriers charge for, it isn’t hard to see that iCloud is all about further monetizing data usage. If the reports are true and most iPhone users use way less than 2GB of data per month, wouldn’t it be worth Apple and its carrier partners’ while to engineer a new technology that would increase data usage?
From a business perspective, that would make total sense. And it could also be a deal-breaker for Sprint and Apple in terms of getting the iPhone 5.
Apple may want Sprint to lose the unlimited data package in order to create parity between them, Verizon, and AT&T in order to get the iPhone 5. But because Sprint’s business model is all about being the cheapest, they would most likely never do that, which might be the only roadblock for the iPhone 5 coming to Sprint. It really cannot be for any other technological reason, as Sprint uses CDMA, just like Verizon.
What Ever Happened To a 64 GB iPhone 5?
Remember way back in the good old days of the iPhone 5 rumor mill, when we used to dream of a 64GB iPhone 5 option? It seems that, now that iCloud has become a reality, we’ve all but forgotten about an iPhone 5 with a beefed-up, on-board storage. But the nice thing about more hardware storage is that it would give users the option to keep more of their oft-used data — like music — on the iPhone 5 and off the iCloud grid. It would be nice of Apple to still give us the 64GB option on the iPhone 5 — iCloud or no.
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