@ CTIA E&A: Android moves down pricing scale at Sprint Nextel

SAN FRANCISCO – Android mania is in full effect at this year’s CTIA Enterprise & Applications event in San Francisco with mobile operators, handset makers and application developers virtually tripping over themselves to introduce new products and services tied to Google Inc.’s mobile operating system.
Perhaps the most important aspect of this Android love-fest is the move to broaden the operating system’s reach and thus increase penetration by bringing devices running the OS down the price chain. What had been a standard feature for smart phones in the $150 and higher price points, is now set to push into the double-digit tiers as well as broaden its reach into no-contract offerings.
Sprint Nextel Corp. is a prime example of this expansion with the carrier announcing three new Android-powered devices that will slot in at the $150, $100 and $50 price points, all after rebates and a two-year contract. The carrier does currently offer devices at the $150 and $100 price points, but the new devices up the ante with newer versions of the OS as well as Sprint Nextel’s latest Sprint ID, that bundles content-related applications to ease consumer interaction with the growing monstrosity of application stores.
The Sprint ID service, which the carrier made a considerable amount of noise about at the show, will be limited to the newly launched devices to start. The application packages include content from a number of well-known brands, including Amazon.com, Blackboard, Comcast Corp., Disney, E!, Electronic Arts, eBay, ESPN, HSN, LatCel, MTV, Notre Dame, Oprah Winfrey Network, RadioShack, Weather Channel, Where and Yahoo.
The $150 device is the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Transform that features a 3.5-inch touch screen, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and both front and rear facing cameras. The device will ship with the 2.1 version of Android when it launches on Oct. 10, but is set for an upgrade to the 2.2 specification later this year.
Moving down the line to the $100 price point is the Kyocera Communications Inc./Sanyo Zio that also includes a 3.5-inch touch screen, a 3.2-megapixel camera, onscreen virtual keyboard and will ship with the 2.1 Android OS. The device is similar to the Zio that launched recently at Leap Wireless International Inc. and is set to be offered by Sprint Nextel on Oct. 10.
The final rung on the new device line up is covered by LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s Optimus 5 that will retail for $50 after rebates and a two-year contract when launched on Oct. 31. The device includes a 3.2-inch touch screen, onscreen virtual keyboard, 3.2-megapixel camera and will run the latest 2.2 version of the Android OS.
For Sprint Nextel the lure of smart phones, touch screens and application stores on consumers should prove a windfall as all of the new devices require customers to sign up for a rate plan of at least $70 per month, which in a day and age of carrier average revenue per user in the $50 range should be a positive on the bottom line.