Sprint: Most Exclusive Smartphone Deals Might Be Going Away

| January 8, 2013 | 4 Replies

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    Here’s some good news for everyone in the US, at least. Sprint’s Product Chief Fared Adib and their Device Executive Ryan Sullivan commented on the industry moving away from the practice of locking up devices to one carrier, and all these exclusives. With the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 in 2012, we saw the industry begin to move away from the exclusives. As the only exclusive was that AT&T had the red Galaxy S3, and the Verizon had a black and brown version of the Galaxy S3 a few months after launch. But according to Sullivan and Adib, ideally a customer can pick a phone and then pick a carrier, not the other way around. Right now, if you’re on Verizon and you decide I want the Sony Xperia Z, then you find out it’s not available for Verizon, you can’t have it. That’s not how it should work. All phones should work on all the major carriers, at least.

    “It makes less sense for exclusive deals,” According so Sullivan

    After we just reported that Samsung was working on better names for their US devices, now it looks like exclusivity deals could be going away for carriers. Both of these are huge deals. But I still don’t see Verizon giving up the Droid brand anytime soon or Sprint giving up the EVO brand either. These are both carriers top selling brands. When you think “DROID” what do you think of? Usually Motorola and Verizon right? That is exactly what Verizon wants you to think of.

    Now Sullivan also said that by taking phones that are made for a global market, it will allow the manufacturer to focus on few devices, and ultimately giving the consumer better products and faster updates. We aren’t sure if Sprint won’t be having any more exclusives or not, but if they don’t I really hope all the other carriers follow in their footsteps. It’ll be great news and a better industry for consumers.

    So should exclusive deals go away? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

      Category: Android Carrier News, Android News, Android Phone News, CES Android News

      About the Author ()

      I've been a huge fan of Android since the OG Motorola Droid hit back in 2009 on Verizon, since then I have gone on to own some of the best devices we've seen including the HTC EVO 4G, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, Nexus 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S3. I also have a passion for writing about anything having to do with Android.
      • Crowrb29

        I love the EVO hope that line or something very similar to it sticks around

      • Joshua Barta

        This is unusual, considering that phones compatible with Sprint’s (CDMA) network won’t work on other carriers, and phones that work on other carriers won’t work on Sprint.

        • Kurt Wurmser

          True for CDMA, but I believe LTE will let you just swap SIMS like GSM does.

      • yarrellray

        Sprint will NEVER give up the EVO FAMILY of devices neither will Verizon and it’s DROID FAMILY of devices.

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