Sprint doesn’t seem too concerned with the upcoming iPhone 4, as the company’s Chief Financial Officer said the EVO 4G should be compelling enough to keep the masses from fleeing to AT&T.
Robert Brust, Sprint’s CFO, is no dummy, though, as he said during an investor’s conference Wednesday that the company expects some to jump ship to get the latest smartphone from Apple but this year shouldn’t be as bad as previous summers thanks to the nation’s first 4G phone.
“Every year all U.S. carriers, except AT&T, go through a little trauma called ‘iPhone introduction,'” Brust said. “We have a little churn issue called ‘People leaving to go to the iPhone.’ As people’s contracts expire they leave and go to AT&T for the iPhone.”
Sprint famously said the Palm Pre would stop customers from leaving last year and we all know that didn’t turn out to be the case.
“The Pre was for people who didn’t really want the iPhone,” Brust said. “But the EVO is a phone that people can get instead of the iPhone. We were in the distance last year and now we’re catching up.”
He may have a point with this one, as the EVO is a pretty great device. In our review, we were disappointed with the poor battery life but were pleased overall with the size, speed and responsiveness of the EVO. Consumers seem excited too, as Sprint has sold a lot of units since its release last week – it didexaggerate sales claims a bit, though.
How does the EVO 4G stack up against the iPhone 4 and all the other killer smartphones this summer? Well, friends, hop on over to our “Superphone Shootout” for all the information on the hottest handsets and you can decide for yourself.
Sprint users, is the EVO good enough to keep you from jumping to AT&T for the iPhone 4? Sound off in the comments.
[Via CNET]