So Sprint Nextel fired its chief operating officer, Len Lauer. The carrier said it is making changes in the management of its core operations and that Lauer would leave the company immediately. Gary Forsee, Sprint Nextel’s president and chief executive officer, will assume Lauer’s responsibilities.
A little recent history:
1) Sprint Nextel recently announced dismal second-quarter results. Specifically, the carrier’s net adds were horrific.
2) Right after its second-quarter earnings announcement, Sprint Nextel said it will launch a super awesome WiMAX network. (Some people have already hypothesized that Sprint Nextel’s WiMAX announcement is like a magician’s trick: Make a commotion over here to distract the viewer from what is happening over there.)
And 3) Sprint Nextel is launching a new advertising campaign focused on the quality and capabilities of its network. The new tagline for the carrier’s ads will be: “Sprint. Power Up.” Along with the new advertising campaign, Sprint Nextel will be conducting “dynamic internal employee campaigns.” We assume that means a sort of in-company campaign to boost morale. And with Mr. Lauer out, we’re guessing these campaigns go something like this: “Work hard. Show results. OR YOU ARE SO FIRED.”
Inspired?
Isn’t connecting the dots fun?
Sprint Nextel is obviously in a rough spot. Right now we’re picturing Sprint Nextel a little like Jake LaMotta of “Raging Bull” fame. “Come on, hit me. Harder. Harder.” It’s like the carrier is so close to the cutting edge of everything that it’s gotten cut because of it.
Sprint Nextel’s marketing officer, Mark Schweitzer, describes the company’s offerings as “lightning in a jar.”
“We’re opening that jar, putting the power of that lightning bolt in the hands of the customer and waking up the rest of the industry,” he said.
But, using that same metaphor, lighting in a jar sounds pretty … risky.
Indeed, Sprint Nextel seems to be stuck in a most interesting predicament: It has so many opportunities that it doesn’t seem able to capitalize on any of them. You want WiMAX? We’re on it. You want EV-DO Rev. A? We’ll launch that before you can say “Verizon.” You want push-to-talk? We’ll get together with Nextel (and then promptly ignore iDEN.) You want MVNOs? This network is for rent. You want bundles? Check out our new cable friends (who, for some reason, need $2 billion in spectrum). And it goes on and on.
But don’t worry too much. After all, the Razrs are coming, the Razrs are coming!
It seems the one thing Sprint Nextel isn’t on the cutting edge of is the fact that most people still don’t quite trust cell-phone providers. Most regular people are generally suspicious of and, frankly, somewhat scared by mobile TV and full-track downloads. They’re not really prepared for the time and effort it takes to make use of a “powerful” network.
Judging from the recent successes of Cingular Wireless and Verizon Wireless-and the opposing failures of Helio and Amp’d Mobile-people want a friendly, competent carrier rather than a technological marvel. They want a cell phone, not a mobile intelligent terminal.
They’re not really interested in “lighting in a jar,” they’d rather just have a candle in the dark.
Alltel recently made a “voluntary contribution” to the U.S. Treasury of $100,000. Amazingly, the amount is EXACTLY THE SAME as the FCC’s fine against Alltel for not filing paperwork about safeguards on its customers’ call records. Of course, Alltel didn’t admit any wrongdoing (and we, of course, am not insinuating anything). Interestingly, most of us also make “voluntary contributions” to the U.S. Treasury every April 15, the same day as tax day. What an amazing coincidence!
