Hello! And welcome to our Friday column, Worst of the Week. There’s a lot of nutty stuff that goes on in this industry, so this column is a chance for us at RCRWireless.com to rant and rave about whatever rubs us the wrong way. We hope you enjoy it!
And without further ado:
There’s nothing like a family argument to really get into the holiday spirit. Who forgot whose birthday, or who forgot who was allergic to anything turkey- or pumpkin spice-based, or who’s supposed to make sure Uncle Ken stays away from the spiced cider are all what make the holiday’s special.
And thus it was refreshing to see this week’s spat in the wireless family between T-Mobile US CEO John Legere and Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, which by this point the rest of the family should have known can never be in the same room together for more than a few minutes.
(On second thought, why hasn’t someone gotten these two into the same room together for more than a few minutes? These two need to work out their differences in front of a live audience!)
The week started off innocent enough with Sprint “hinting” at some big news it plans to announce, which as we now know was its “50% discount” offer to the customers of rival customers. The promotion, which runs through Jan. 7, offers customers of Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility and T-Mobile US a 50% discount on their current rate plans (some exclusions apply) if they make the switch to Sprint.
The deal was dinged by some as being just a rehashing of what Sprint did during the holidays last year, which was just a few months after Claure took the reins of the beleaguered carrier. The promotion provided a much-needed bump for Sprint’s customer base and thus ripe to again be trotted out in hopes of riding some recent momentum.
However, unlike last year’s promotion, this year’s move included the targeting of T-Mobile US customers. And we all know there was no way Legere was going to let anyone target T-Mobile US’ customers with a promotion without firing up the old Twitter handle. And thus:
Legere also took to Periscope for a rant/Q&A/hair fondling exhibition, which depending on your ability to watch someone play with their hair for 20 minutes is compelling and/or unbearable.
T-Mobile US CMO Mike Sievert also got in on the Twitter act, touching on Sprint’s ongoing workforce reduction plans, which drew out a curt response from Claure.
I know these are touchy subjects for many, but it does seem that when played out over social media channels they gain some levity. Especially when you step back and realize these are not teenagers bickering over some mundane dispute, but are instead millionaires and billionaires bickering over some mundane dispute. It’s all really quite silly.
I am guessing that like all families that gather for the holidays, both Legere and Claure at the end of the day really do have respect and, we can hope, some level of love for each other. Maybe this week’s tiff is just their way of showing that love.
Perhaps as we all begin to gather in the coming weeks with our own families we can take a lesson from this week’s feud and simply move the typical passive-aggressive holiday friction to social media. Sure, the content of those barbs can still be pointed, but it just seems so much easier to laugh them off.
And isn’t that what the holidays are all about? Laughing off petty disputes.
Thanks for checking out this week’s Worst of the Week column. Here is a quick, but satisfying extra:
• Just ahead of this week’s rate plan promotion, Sprint CTO John Saw took to the carrier’s blog to tout the deployment progress of its LTE network. The touting included references to the implementation of LTE-Advanced technologies, including carrier aggregation and beamforming designed to improve network speeds and coverage.
While the details were impressive if not familiar, one downside to the whole deal was the rollout of the LTE Plus tag for the upgrades. Now, there is nothing really wrong with the LTE Plus brand, and in fact I applaud Sprint for not going all “WiMAX 4G” with this by bringing “5G” into the branding picture.
I guess my only beef with the branding move is that it seems to have snuffed out Spark. You remember Spark, right? It was Sprint’s catchphrase rolled out in late 2013 to excite consumers about its enhanced network taking advantage of the carrier’s broad spectrum portfolio in the 800 MHz, 1.9 GHz and 2.5 GHz bands as well as advanced LTE technologies.
Spark was such an awesome name. It didn’t set off the “BS” meter in my brain by invoking a generational term like “5G” and also stayed away from the LTE acronym consumers somehow know, but have no idea what it means. It was brilliant!
Of course, it was also launched under the watch of a different management team, which is quickly having all semblance of its existence wiped from Sprint’s memory. So, I guess it was inevitable Spark had to go, but it may take me some time to get over the loss.
I welcome your comments. Please send me an e-mail at dmeyer@rcrwireless.com.
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