The iPhone is sweeping across the United States, coming to several smaller, regional carriers. Just a few days back, the iPhone was tipped for Cricket Wireless, marking the first time Apple’s top-selling smartphone was available on the prepaid market.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sprint will announce later this week that their Virgin Mobile brand will become the second carrier to offer the iPhone without a contract. No pricing or availability date was given for the Virgin Mobile release, though we assume Virgin will likely mirror the $400 iPhone 4, $500 iPhone 4S price points offered by Cricket. Since Sprint was able to successfully negotiate a Virgin Mobile deal, we have a sneaking suspicion that Boost Mobile will also be offering the iPhone at a later date.
As you may recall, Sprint has a commitment to purchase about $15.5 billion worth of iPhones over the next 4 years. It is unclear whether or not Virgin Mobile or Boost Mobile’s iPhones will count toward Sprint’s total. These prepaid services represent Sprint’s bright spot where it has added customers of late, so having the iPhone on these services could bolster Sprint’s iPhone commitment if they do in fact count towards their massive commitment.
Either way, the iPhone is spreading, and we suspect it’ll take the prepaid world by storm just as it’s done with postpaid. We’ll bring you more details of the Virgin Mobile launch as we learn more from Sprint’s press release later this week.
[via The Wall Street Journal]