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BTW, the sluggish "Q" sales are only tangentially related to price. The current "Q" is a single mode, digital only, (1900PCS) product. The cheaper QCP-2700, for which QC is still production capacity constrained, is a dual-mode, dual band phone (i.e. analog and 800MHZ and 1900MHZ digital). The problem is straightforward. Sprint's networks are still being built out, and there are many areas with inadequate coverage (i.e. you get dropped from the network if you are using a digital-only handset). The QCP-2700 ameliorates this problem by roaming into analog mode, or digital at 800MHZ, when the subscriber encounters an area where Sprint isn't fully built out. The current, single-band "Q" doesn't offer this functionality. Customers who pony up for a premium priced product tend to be rather intolerant (and rightly so) as to the technical reasons why their phone calls keep being interrupted--so, in markets with weak network coverage, the "Q" phone has not been selling well. Several solutions are pending. First, a single-mode phone (like the current "Q") is very desirable in PCS markets that are fully built out because the subscriber never has to pay expensive roaming fees to utilize a non-Sprint analog/800MHZ network. So the problem will be mitigated as Sprint's networks mature. Second, QC will begin shipping dual-mode (800MHZ digital & analog) "Q"'s by the end of March or early April--so a technical solution is close at hand. These observations are predicated on my conversations with network operators--who, BTW, indicate that the "Q" is a fundamentally attractive piece from both a form factor and functionality standpoint and that price (although they wish it were lower) is not a gating factor. |
