Sprint execs: Samsung Instinct holding its own against Apple iPhone

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Unless John Garcia is using this phone himself, I think he's not listening to enough customer support calls on this phone.

Samsung puts out better phones based on this one with much better features, yet Sprint banks on this one? If ATT weren't more expensive, i'd switch. But as it is, I have to settle for now with a poorer quality product, c.s. reps who can only tell me, "i don't have any information on that", and smoke blown out of insulated Sprint executives who are probably not using the phones they're selling.

I have it and when i get a chance to change I will.

-No Flash support
-Inferior camera with no image manipulation
-No access to file system
-Minimal applications compared to Iphone/Android
-Silly bugs (for example, leap year bugs! QA 101)
-No product development road map
-Poor email networking support (error S7111, S7142, etc.)
-Poor calendar integration
-Product released when development wasn't finished
-technical support doesn't even have access to emulators of the phones they're supposed to be supporting

If I could get an iphone I would, but it's not worth the price. But...i'm beginning to wonder if the Instinct is worth it's price. It's not an iphone killer. It's a spiffy phone that is under sorely supported.

I am an IT professional and use the iphone and have had to set up and work with the instinct. Not even close, The people with the instinct were completely stunned at how my iphone works. That thing is a sad competitor to the iphone.

Indeed, this phone does not deliver at all. The basic functions that the phone comes with are highly unreliable, crash a lot and EVERYTHING is slow and laggy. Top that off with the phone not even being java compliant, meaning there are very very few apps even around and nobody wants to develop for the Instinct only.

For those of you looking for numbers, go look them up yourself. It probably would have saved a dozen worthless posts. I have had this phone since it came out and the phone is trying my patience. Sprint promises an update to make it do what it was ADVERTISED to do and here we are Sept 2 and nothing. The only way this will be an i-phone killer is if ya take an Instinct and smash one with it. Sprint has truly screwed themselves this time.

...it would sync with a Mac. But it doesn't, not without a lot of workarounds. Synching with a Mac is not even covered in the user's guide.

Not that Apple is much better working with Palm Desktop for the Treo 755p I have now on Sprint - I bought a third-party application, "Missing Sync", to get the job done. Everything works together now.

In a few months, I'm sure the company which produces "Missing Sync" will have a version out for the Instinct - but by then the Android phones will be rolling out. I want a phone which has linux as its OS, not something off-brand like the Palm OS or even Windows Mobile. When Android is available, I'll snag one of those.

Truly the iphone killer.. love my phone...

Awww, cute little names to show your hatred towards superior products ... isn't that cute!

Look, genius. The thing that makes the iPhone successful is easy to figure out. It's usable. Most users can't use most features on most phones. Guess what - users can actually use all the features on the iPhone. Simpletons like yourself like to make-believe that it's all marketing. How difficult is it to understand that a well designed, usable product that allows for expandability via high quality apps is what people want. Not Instincts that do a poor job of trying to steal the iPhones interface - I mean it's a terrible rip-off. Is that the best Samsung and the rest of the industry can do?

People are looking for innovation not wannabe replication. I'd like nothing more than to see something compete with the iPhone - really push the industry, do something new. Instead of spending your energy futilely trying trash the iPhone - start demanding better products from the dozens of other cell phone manufacturers.

Seriously - iPhone haters are sounding more and more like the guy who lost the race and then complains that it wasn't fair. Cry me a river and please, grow up.

Ok, is my first comment so here goes...

Due to my work and personal life, I have Verizon, AT&T and Sprint that I am trudging around with.

First off... all of them seem to make a claim at how much bigger and better they are to their competitor. But I often find that the method to judge this is different and used differently at all of them... so how do customers really know how is telling the truth, and since we all have different lives, and different needs, how do you determine which provider/phone is best for your circumstances. I WISH THERE WAS SOME UNIVERSAL SET OF MEASUREMENTS OR STANDARDS THAT ALL OF THEM USED so that consumers like me did not have to try to wade through the swamp of confusing and differing terminology and standards.

Second.... I had Sprint for a personal phone back before and during the merger with Nextel. Sprint customer care was brutal at best during those times, so much so, I eventually left Sprint as my personal phone carrier. Fast forward to now, and I again have Sprint due to my work, I have a ic902 hybrid using Sprint phone networks and Nextel direct connect before trying the Instinct myself. It has been a disaster to put it in the best terms possible. Service often does not work, and feature of my phone sometimes are inoperable, and don't forget that my phone seems to re-boot itself on a regular basis with no concern if I am using it. I've taken it into the Sprint stores several times to have it addressed. After waiting for long periods, a generally unhappy tech tells me although they were able to duplicate my problems.. it is preforming withing the spec's that Sprint allows, so there is nothing they can or will do for me, but if it continues to simply bring it back again. The shortest wait time I have ever had in a Sprint store was 32 mins, at a Store in Orlando, FL. my instinct seems to be slower and less intuitive that my Verizon Voyager and lack some features I wish it had.

Third... once while waiting for my phone to be repaired, again, a rep tried to sell me a air card for using with my laptop. He touted how fast it was, and how far it covered over the competition. I decided to take him up on his offer to demo it. While at the Sprint store, the speeds were considerably slower that when I took it out and used my AT&T card. A few weeks later, my company switched to Verizon cards, and I was at the end of my demo with Sprint and found that while I had good coverage on my Verizon card, I often had no coverage or poor coverage with my Sprint Card.

Lastly... now I've decided to get a Voyager touch screen phone from Verizon with the TV service for my personal phone. Sitting with a friend with a new iPhone, and another with Instinct, I noticed all of use were happily texting, and using our phones with relatively similar speeds. So I've come to the conclusion.. its really not about the phone, the network, or the features.. its about your own preferences, brand loyalty, what your particular needs are, and the kind of environment you will be living and operating in.

Does anyone see this also?

"There are no activation issues with the endstink because no one is buying it. The sales numbers are so bad Sprint won't even post them.

Noting but more BS from the goobers at Sprint.

Sell it or move it!"

Let's no go down to the level of the smartphone wannabe Iphoney.

No contest tech-wise. Instint wins. Iphoney is trying to catch up on true 3G...good luck.

Obviously you are so blindly in love with your iphoney that you don't see the light. Kudos to the Apple folks for making people like you believe that the Iphoney is new tech. The touchscreen interface had been in existent so long ago that Samsung or Nokia could have rolled it out if they decided to do so. Remember the first Iphoney? I mean that sleek looking smartphone wannabe with 2004 technology debuting in 2007? Hahahhaha

I'd be surprised if they were lying about any of they're clams. Think about it, what do they have to gain in the long run by lying?! I have an instinct and i really like it! I'm a big mac user but I didn't wanna spend the extra money on canceling my contract. So I picked up the instinct and I've been very happy with it. So come on people, why can we be friends?! Stop with the hate!

Where are they? I mean, if the device is doing so well, why not tell us exactly how well, especially after you've taken the time to say it's breaking Best Buy sales records? Why not respond to Apple's July 14 announcement with an announcement regarding Instinct sales, or perhaps offer an announcement to offset last quarter's subscriber losses? The answer is simple (and it's not "Kill the Batman"): SPRINT HAS NOT SOLD ENOUGH PHONES TO MERIT A DECENT PRESS RELEASE. They may have "sold" the ones sent to stores (many of which were returned judging by the Instinct forums), but clearly that number was not impressive, otherwise they would share it.

There really is no comparison between these products right now. . .one succeeds at bringing in customers, while the other succeeds only in keeping some current Sprint customers with Sprint (well, other than those 901,000 detections last quarter), as well as luring a few anti-Apple nutjobs, most of whom still live in their mother's basement. Sounds like a winning product so far.

And before you ask, nope, I don't own an iPhone, but I was considering a Sprint stock purchase, right up until I discovered that I can't find the sales numbers for the Instinct anywhere. As a potential investor, actual figures are imfinitely more valuable than estimates based on analyst calls to stores. That being said, if anyone has ACTUAL sales figures, I'd love to see them.

i think you got the iphone mixed up with instink. nobody is trying to buy the instink, and iphone demand is high as ever, foxxcon is having to make extra just to keep up. instink? nope, nobody really cares anymore and most have taken it back. come back sprint when you have a real phone.
lmao, just look at that UI. hahaa. laughable

You need to check your information before spouting off non-factual statements. The 5X bigger network is real. Sprint covers more square miles, cities and airports with mobile broadband than any other carrier. The Sprint customer making the roaming call would not be paying double because the Sprint customer's are smart enough to choose the Simply Everything plan that includes: Unlimited domestic talking, Unlimited Web surfing, Unlimited e-mailing, Unlimited domestic texting, Unlimited domestic video messaging, and Unlimited domestic picture sharing. No roaming charges here.

You are forgetting a couple things when you talk up Sprint's network. To Sprint, the "5x" bigger network really just means that you can make a scratchy, double priced, roaming call in places that ATT does not have service. Also, the Sprint network is the most horrible network for people that live indoors. I have laughed at my friend who has Sprint because he has to literally open the door and hold the phone outside of his sturdily built apartment complex to send texts and see if he has messages. Once he goes outside he has almost perfect service. When I had Sprint, I had to leave my phone on the windowsill of my basement if I wanted it to get service down there while my friends who had ATT had almost perfect service.

Obviously your the goober. It's PUBLIC knowledge that the Instinct has set sales records for Best Buy, no other phone has sold as much or as fast.

It's also known that Samsung is making the Instinct as fast as they can and CANNOT keep up with the demand, have you noticed that the demand for the iPhone has dropped off? I can walk in a store right now and get one, good luck trying that with the Instinct!!

Not enough yet??? Try this then, walk in the Sprint store and ask how many have been sold and see what response you get. There were over 130,000 people on a waiting list opening day.

Who are you anyway?? The number of phones will be known soon enough and then you can remove both feet from your mouth.

You are truly a moron and you prove it with this type of response. Do some research for yourself and wake up!

I have a hard time believing that they are not selling these. Sooo, bestbuy is a huge liar in saying it is the best selling cell phone for them in the last two years? I guess Sprint is a big fat liar too, right? Just because they didn't come out and tell you how many they sold, like AT&T and Apple, doesn't mean it's not the best seller they have had in years. Remember, Best Buy sells AT&T too, so it must have beat the iphone sales at Best Buys when it released for the first time. Amazing what happens when you add things up, isn't it?

There are no activation issues with the endstink because no one is buying it. The sales numbers are so bad Sprint won't even post them.

Noting but more BS from the goobers at Sprint.

Sell it or move it!

The gross add issue looms large. Sprint is adding fewer new customers quarter over quarter.

This is the same trend FON was experiencing before the merger...quarter over quarter decreases in gross and net additions, while NXTL was just the opposite.

This quarter it was close to 800,000 fewer than last quarter. Very dangerous position to be in. So even if Sprint could somehow maintain the gross adds at this quarter's pace, which it has been unable to do, it would need to reduce churn another 50 basis points to stop the net subscriber losses.

Hesse does not have the time nor the resources to fix the gross add side. I think he is only looking to stabilize and then look for a suitor.

You are correct in regards to no comparison but why are you trying to make this argument? There is no comparison, truly. If you try to activate an iPhone and an Instinct you'll see CLEAR differences as the iPhone process will take longer than needed, you'll have several problems, and then once you get home ALL of the fun starts, like the calendar won't sync up properly and you'll have several missing items, you'll be ready to throw it toss it at something when iTunes gives you trouble (what good is an 8 or 16gb hard drive then????), maybe that's not enough, how about the fact that your battery WILL NOT last a day, if your a casual user and don't get many calls, the your fine, if not then plan on getting a charger for home, for work, and for the car because you'll need them all. Previous comments have stated that the Spring 3G network is larger than AT&Ts 3G network and it's a easy to prove, just check it out for yourself and you'll see that AT&Ts 3G network barely covers 22% of the US, but Sprint and Verizon cover the whole thing.

Bad post, do some research next time will ya!!!

Step into an Apple store and listen to what people are complaining about and returning. I was in a store last night for 2 hours getting a G4 iBook rebuilt and listened to the stories of 6 people regarding the wonderful iPhone...These folks were returning the iPhone because of screen defects on one, battery life awful (we KNEW that was an issue already) on four and one would not sync iTunes at all. The first response was always "go home and reset the device". In the end 4 of the 6 returned the device and left.
Compare that to the Instinct and you'll find that there have been no activation issues (many for the iPhone), there have been no battery issues (we know the iPhones story), Sprint's EVDO Network is 5 times larger than AT&T (That is a FACT, look it up). Instinct wins this round, swallow your pride and admit it, go ahead, you can do it!!

The bottomline here is that Apple has a great device that needed MORE R&D before it was launched. You now have an army of iPhone fanatics that will not admit that they have a 2nd rate phone on a 3rd rate Network. The Instinct is the real thing, and the iPhone is truly in a class by itself and we can all be thankful for that.

Nice try Steve Jobs but you really needed to put more time into this device before it launched. 6 more months R&D then proper field testing and you "might" have had an unstoppable product. Right now the iPhone is killing Apples credibility, especially married to the AT&T 3G (what a joke) network.

Churn went from 2.45% to under 2.00%. That's a huge improvement, but clearly much more work needs to happen. As for the Instinct, it launched with 10 days left in the quarter, so the numbers were pretty set at that point.

This isn't an Instinct versus Iphone issue. They are selling many more Instincts than they had anticipated...they are constantly out of stock. A shipment arrives from Samsung and is gone within a day or two.

Dan Hesse also commented that the bulk of Instinct sales were for upgrades to current customers...which is good. You lock in a customer for two years on a higher price plan. Seems like good business to me. They know that they need to address the gross add side of the equation too, but they are focusing on retaining the customers they have and attracting high value prime customers on the acquistion side. It will take time to turn this around, but the fact that the billing conversion is complete will only help with customer service and thus churn.

Good one, considering that video shows the Instinct vs. iPhone 1.0 on the EDGE network.

I don't wish for the demise of any company, not just for the homeless, but for our economic welfare and to keep prices fair, but there is absolutely no comparison:

iPhone > Instinct.

iPhone is greater than Instinct.

your argument has been a lost cause since you first opened your mouth. the iphone ran over your pathetic attempt to copy it. game over sprint :)

I know TWO people who got Instints and took them back. One got a Palm, and the other switched to AT&T and got an iPhone.

I used the Instinct a bit. It has a lot of features including a number that the iPhone doesn't have. But the phone doesn't work well, it basically sucks. The menus are unintuitive and the GUI is laggy. It like those early Hyundais or Kias, lots of features but made like crap. (The new Korean cars seem to be pretty good.)

Dear idiot ........... 2 million WORLDWIDE vs. ????? instincts in the US only. Now get out of your parents basement you paisty little hamster licker.

If the Kansas City Star did not show the next article as : Sprint loses 901,000 customers, $344 million in second quarter

I wonder if they will release the percentage of them that got an Instinct

I am a sprint customer...i am not an I-Phone hater or a Sprint apologist.

But I have to wonder with 800,000 people in 3 months how many new subscribers have bought the instinct?

Or is the instinct in high demand for current customers only.

I havent met a single instinct user who is a new customer. Everyone I met is a current customer.

Where as with the IPHONE i have met tons who switched or came on board for the phone.

I like my sprint services and love the phone to a degree but this does not bode well.

Well, customers are leaving Sprint.

Think about this...

Sprint reported it reduced churn by 20% compared to last quarter, meaning it retained about 700,000 existing customers, but still lost almost as many total customers this quarter as it did last quarter. That is not a good trend. It means Sprint added about 800,000 fewer new customers this quarter compared to last quarter.

So even with the improved churn numbers, Sprint still stands to continue to lose more than 300,000 customers a month going forward. That is not a growth story in anyone's book.

As for angry ex (or ex, ex, ex) employees, I find it hard to blame them for their feelings after ten years of lay-offs. Since 2000, this company has laid off more than 30,000 employees...

exacly..
but they will still argue that sprint is doing better :)

Sprint isn't releasing sales number for the Instinct for a reason. If the sales were impressive as they want everyone to believe then they would be flashing them every chance they had. And if you lose close to a million customers in a quarter and still say that you're doing a lot better...then you've got a serious problem.

God, some of you are bitter. It's cruel to root for the downfall of a local company. Lots of employees and neighbors/friends of employees come on here, and it's upsetting to hear so many people who hate Sprint. The level of anger at Sprint in this blog is not even remotely commensurate with a poor customer service experience or even an employment termination. I think some people just like to get a rise out of people who care about something, so they know they can always pick a fight here in the Sprint blog. It's like people who come into IMDB and say whatever movie sucks to get a rise out of its fans.

If you really do harbor this level of anger and revenge fantasy because of a bad customer service experience, you need mental help. It can't possibly be making you feel better to come in here and pick at Sprint's various business setbacks, can it? If Sprint went out of business, would you let this go, or would you drive to each ex-employee's house for years into the future complaining about the time you had to call customer service 3 times over a single error. You really need to gain a bit of perspective. I won't go through the detail so many have gone through before about Kansas City falling off the face of the earth is Sprint goes under, but it's true. Also, as the person below says, if AT&T and VZ are all that's left, cell service is going to get pretty darn expensive pretty fast.

If you hate Sprint, don't be a customer, but don't have such a worthless life that you come onto every Sprint blog there is to pick at that particular emotional scab again and again and wish for the economic ruin of so many Kansas Citians.

No doubt. How we got to homelessness escapes me.

Anyway, "funny" just added yet another "head fake". Saying the sales are great while trashing everything related to the new iphone means nothing coming from you folks in OP...show me the money.

Conventional wisdom says the Instinct numbers pale in comparison to iphone, so prove that/us wrong and release the sales and churn numbers for the Instinct. Seems like a pretty simple way to shut up the Instinct nay-sayers, I would think.

sprint lost another million... bye bye sprint :)

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/08/iphone_app_stor.html?

wtf? dude go somewhere and die... if you want to help homeless, go volunteer at homeless shelter... iphone has nothing to do with the homeless... are you honestly insane or no?

Obviously your iPhone doesn't have access to Dictionary.com because your spelling mistakes and grammatical errors alone are laughable... But that's not the point here is it? There are people right there in the good ole US of A who are hungry, homeless and in dire need of healthcare and all you can ramble on about is what the iPhone has over the Instinct (not instinkt - again Dictionary.com might help here). What you need, is an education in humanity versus consumerism, and maybe then and only then will your country be a truly great place to live!
PS. The money you wasted on a dumb phone could have helped a starving family right there in America! God bless you and your stupidity!

are you mentally ill ? lmao :)

the instink cant do half of what iphone does,

oh.. do you have a built in application store? no..

do you have the best mobile web browser... noo..

do you have a 3.5" display? no...

what you have is an iphone knock off. half of them have been returned during the 30 day trial. i cant believe were even having this conversation... instinkt isnt even a competitor.

By what standard would the Instinct be holding its own? Equal sales, 1/2, 1/5? How in the world could anyone tell from the Sprint spin or this article (which is also part of the Sprint spin) anything about Instinct sales v. iPhone sales?

Since Sprint won't post numbers for the endstink, it must be really bad.

2 million subs have spoken in 2008. Millions more will speak before it's over.

Sprint is not in a pissing match with the iPhone. We don't need to prove to you that the phone is selling... It's evident it is... the demand is crazy for it.

Handset's undoubtedly drive consumers to want to be with a company... They all offer calls, and data. It who performs better.

If you want a phone that dies in a couple of hours because you're playing MP3's on it all day, then buy an iPhone.

If you want a device that does more than just play crappy music... get an Instinct.

I can't wait for a few years down the road when iPhone start blowing up and the only thing you can do is mail them to Apple... have fun without your phone for a month.

yeah right... iPhone outsold instink by atleast 2 million already.

Love all the flowery talk about Instinct's success from the execs, but it is truly meaningless if they don't back it up with sales numbers. Gives me that "head fake" feeling when this happens.

C'mon guys, get rid of the smoke and mirrors...just show me the numbers for Instinct...sales and churn, if you don't mind.

AT&T with their hoodrat wannabe 3G network.

Pleaseeeee. No comparison. Pull up a youtube video on both phones and the contest is settled.