Sprint CEO Dan Hesse Strikes Back: Exclusivity Length Unknown 28
Sprint CEO Dan Hesse took some time to tell CNET that his fellow executives at competing carriers Verizon and AT&T maybe should simmer down just a bit with the "We'll be getting the Pre too" talk. Namely: Sprint's exclusivity is going to last longer than six months:
"They need to check their facts," Hesse said in an interview at a press event here to launch the Palm Pre. "That just is not the case. Both Palm and Sprint have agreed not to discuss the length of the exclusivity deal. But I can tell you it's not six months."
Given how important the Pre is to Sprint, it's no surprise that Hesse would want to put the kaibosh on those rumors. While length of the exclusivity period is going to be a secret, there's a "good chance," he says, that it's going to be longer than six months.
28 Comments
woohoo i like the idea of the pre possibly being on sprint longer than six month, take that verizon/att
Me too! Might be a little selfish but at least a 1 year deal. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile have their exclusive smartphones. Why can't Sprint?
Because Palm is going to need to sell all the phones it can given their current financial situation, and that means expanding their market to the millions of subscribers on other networks.
Sprint was a smart starting choice for Palm because neither Verizon nor ATT would have allocated as many resources to this phone because they already have their flagship phones. This phone would have been secondary for Verizon or ATT, the only one in need of a flagship phone that could truly compete was Sprint. Palm knew Sprint was going to go all out for them because Sprint needs something to help them come out of their financial slump as much as Palm does.
"Because Palm is going to need to sell all the phones it can given their current financial situation, and that means expanding their market to the millions of subscribers on other networks."
Others have made similar comments, you guys/girls need to understand the US is not the only market. Palm has said Canada is getting a CDMA version next, Europe will get the GSM version, then other parts of the world. Palm will bring in much more revenue in the foreign market as oppose to the US market.
Wow, well dodged Mr. Hesse. He's the best thing to happen to sprint in a decade. If they can get a positive response to the handling of this release, we may just be happy sprint customers for a change.
Well didn't Verizon (CEO or whoever) actually said they would have 'devices like Palm Pre and...'?
Everybody translated this into VZW will have the pre in 6mth.
Well the Omnia, whith regards to that, is 'a device like the iPhone', isn't it?
He said devices like Palm Pre and Blackberry Strorm 2, not similar devices. They may get the EOS in a year or so but thats kind of stupid compared to the pre.
This is a no-brainer, what sense does it make to bring the Pre to carriers that have competing flagship devices? Verizon's CEO was simply trying to cut the legs form under Sprint, at the same time trying to keep Verizon customers from switching to Sprint. Think about, if the Pre came to Verizon, the Storm probably will be shelved, not to mention crippled to all hell as well. This is the 1st Palm device Sprint and Palm did not collaborate on in terms of build, the only involvement Sprint had was, what type of software to put on the Pre. Palm pretty much had free reign (which that needed), Verizon will not do that, they will have their hands on the Pre at every turn.
Make some sense. Pre is a smartphone. Storm is a Blackberry. They are marketing opposites, why would you deep six the Storm?
When iPhone came out, they didn't terminate RAZRs.
It will take Verizon at least 2 years to test this device on their network since no test scripts would have been setup yet. This is a brand new device and a brand new OS. Dont expect this anytime soon on Verizon.
And when it does come expect, half the ram, big ugly Verizon and VCast everywhere, no Amazon MP3 store, No Pandora, No GPS... etc etc...
If their deal is to last longer than a year, he would not have missed the opportunity to say so. He didnt say that because he can't, it's not like CEO's dont have thier responses planned out well before they are asked about it, especially if they are about to make it public.
Longer than six months? you mean it could be 7, 8, 9 months? Still less than a year. In that sense, yes, it will be longer than six month.
And no, it would not take 2 years for Verizon to test it out in their network, remember, Sprint and Verizon use the same technology. ATT does use a different technology, but remember that there will be a GSM variant (same as ATT) of the phone in Europe already.
Your right 2 years is a bit much but regardless of network Verizon first will remove features from the device, then it does some special testing which would not have been setup yet. I would say at least a year.
Not to mention that Palm may have already given VZW and/or ATT some Pres to play around with.
Oh no! Dan broke his NDA with Palm! Now Palm is going to cancel the launch!
I feel better now about switching to Sprint from VZW. I also didnt believe that VZW CEO anyway. He did say "like" the Pre. So they might get the next webOS device but not the Pre in Jan 2010.
Are we sure the exclusivity is not 6 months and 24 days? That would be until the end of the year and is longer than six months. This statement is obviously made in an effort to get more people to switch to AT&T.
It will be interesting to hear AT&T and VZW's answer...
Most likely Sprint has the option to expand the agreement if the device seels enough units.
Other carriers will get webOS devices, just not the Pre.
Basically, Hesse pimpslapped ATT and bitchslapped Vzw....
this broad was so annoying.. jesus .. if it wasn't for dan's voice..i would have turned the vid off : D
Hi ya! Like Miss Piggy I will take you outAt&t and Verizon. We started with the Pre and its ours.
Secret ninja warrior TeckieGirl
Dan is well spoken. More important - the game is on! This should be a fun ride! Much better than a few years back when it was about thinner, lighter and "do I REALLY need 3 batteries?" Gosh, I just added Microsoft Recite to my old Sprint WinMo beast. I'm storing notes and retrieving by SPEECH. Everyone is innovating this summer - must be in something in the water...
I'm guessing it's 6months and 24 days. Basically the remainder of 2009.
People think Apple is dumb for getting itself locked into only ATT, which is esentially tied for the #1-2 slot in the US market with verizon. Sprint is a distant 3rd place. And although things apparently are changing the perception for sure with many potential customers is it's a 3rd class network with poor customer service. So unless sprint came up with some sort of HUGE money then Palm would be totally ignorant to place all their US eggs in the sprint basket for too long.
Best hope for sprint is there is a clause that if they sell a boatload for Palm then they get an extension(s).
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&...
"CEO Dan Hesse suggested Friday that the exclusive deal might last beyond the end of the year, although David Owens, director of Sprint consumer marketing said later it was through the end of year.
Elliott, the Sprint spokesman, attempted to rationalize both of those predictions today by saying, "What we've been saying is that the exclusive with Palm Pre lasts through at least the end of the year."