Bridegroom Says "I Do" to Palm Pre Minutes Before Wedding
OVERLAND PARK, Kan.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 8, 2009--
Within hours of offering Palm® Pre™ – the most widely
anticipated electronic device of the year – eager customers delivered
the result: a record Sprint (NYSE:S) sales debut.
By late Sunday, Palm Pre had broken previous sales records (first day
and first weekend) for a Sprint device.
"Sprint is a very different company than it was 12 months ago," said Dan
Hesse, president and chief executive officer. "Palm Pre is the coming
out party for the new Sprint. It is the perfect device that highlights
all of the positive changes in our company, including our revolutionary
Ready Now retail store experience, greatly improved customer care,
unmatched value pricing plans and America's most dependable 3G network.”(1)
Pre comes with Sprint’s industry-leading, value-oriented service plans –
which offer significant savings vs. the competition. For example,
Sprint’s Simply EverythingSM plan saves customers $1200 over
the comparable plan for AT&T’s iPhone, and more against Verizon’s
smartphone and PDA pricing over a two year period – that’s real value.”(2)
The anticipation of getting a device found many customers waiting in
line at Sprint retail stores Saturday morning. One person in line – on
his wedding day – was Theodore Travis.
On Saturday at 7 a.m., Theodore was 14th in line at an
Atlanta-area Sprint store, fidgeting for his new Pre. His wedding was
scheduled for 8 a.m. As much as Theodore wanted Pre, he wanted his
bride, Anita, to see him at the altar at the appointed time. At 7:45, he
abandoned his wait and left his line-number and credit card information
with a Sprint store employee, asking that he “hold the 14th
phone for me.” The Sprint store employee obliged. Minutes after the
recessional, the newlyweds returned to pick up their phone, spending the
first minutes of married life with a Ready Now consultant who walked the
happy couple through Pre’s setup and features. The new Mrs. Travis later
revealed that her reaction was “You did what?” to her husband spending
the hour before their wedding waiting for a phone, but later admitted,
“I guess I kind of understand now.”
In addition to big sales and banner headlines during the weekend,
Pre represented a new and major point of differentiation for Sprint, a
defining wireless crossover device for business and consumers that come
to life on Sprint’s Now Network.
Pre proves the value of Sprint’s 3G network – the nation’s most
dependable – which enables downloads more reliably than its competitors,
according to third-party tests.
Pre is a breakthrough in wireless usability. This new handset has been
heralded as a must for the multitasker, with multitouch capabilities,
cached contacts and calendars synced in one place, a keyboard that’s
easy to use and a new webOS™ operating system that lets customers
operate their phone just like a PC – with multiple applications open at
once.
Pre comes backed by Ready Now, a key differentiator for Sprint that
proved valuable throughout the weekend as sales added up and customers
sought to use the phone right out of the box. With Ready Now, Sprint
retail associates work one-on-one with customers to personalize phones,
set up features and demonstrate how each Sprint phone works before
customers leave a Sprint store.
In addition to reinforcing Sprint’s “Now” positioning in the
marketplace, the Pre launch represented an opportunity to advance the
perception of Sprint’s positive customer experience – Hesse’s top
priority since assuming the company’s leadership. First call resolution
and overall customer satisfaction with Sprint’s customer care experience
have improved for 15 consecutive months. The company has won awards and
accolades for its improvements – including a J.D. Power and Associates
award for highest call quality performance among wireless cell phone
users in the West Region in a tie.(3) Sprint also was ranked
by a third party as first among wireless carriers in customer response
time.
The Pre launch was a great example of the changes that have taken place
at Sprint, showcased by customers delighted with both the product and
their experience.
With the strong customer response to the launch of Pre, as expected,
Sprint has sold out in many locations. Sprint is getting the device in
to its retail locations as fast as Palm can make them.
More information is available at www.sprint.com/palmpre.
About Sprint Nextel
Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline
communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers,
businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for
developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including
two wireless networks serving nearly 49 million customers at the end of
the first quarter of 2009; industry-leading mobile data services;
instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a
global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com.
(1)Dependable” based on independent, third-party drive tests
for 3G data connection success, session reliability and signal strength
for the top 50 most populous markets from January 2008 to February 2009.
Not all services available on 3G and coverage may default to separate
network when 3G unavailable.
(2) Comparisons based on AT&T iPhone 3G plan with Unlimited
Text buy-up option and unlimited minutes option for Verizon/PDA
Smartphone Nationwide Email & Messaging plus VZ Navigator. Based on
publicly available information as of publication date. Excludes taxes,
Sprint surcharges, fees and premium content.
(3)Sprint Nextel received the highest numerical score among
wireless service providers in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates
2009 Wireless Call Quality Performance StudySM - Volume
1. Study based on 26,680 consumer responses measuring five providers in
the West region (AZ, CA, CO, ID, IA, MN, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, OR, SD, UT,
WA, WY) and measures opinions of wireless users about the call quality
of their service. Proprietary study results are based on experiences and
perceptions of consumers surveyed in July - December 2008. Your
experiences may vary. Visit jdpower.com
All trademarks are property of their respective owners.
Source: Sprint
Sprint
Mark Elliott, 603-621-4511
mark.j.elliott@sprint.com
or
Laura
Lisec, 913-794-3602
laura.m.lisec@sprint.com
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