Call it a sort of a bear hug: Sprint, the also-ranniest of the also-rans in the carrier world, lost money selling phones that, on the aggregate gained them subscribers. It’s also Catch-22, a blindside, and a mess.

According to Sprint, the company reported a net loss last quarter while still selling 1.8 million iPhones and increasing their subscriber base by 1.6 million. How? The costs associated with provisioning and supporting these new phones drove operating losses to $438 million, up from $139 million in Q4 last year.

The company reported increased subscriber numbers – 55 million this year. Forty percent of Sprint iPhone buyers were new customers. They nearly doubled capital expenditures this year.

Sprint is in a strange place. Like T-Mobile, the company has always been overshadowed by the bigger guys and never gained traction after acquisition. While using ostensibly the same hardware, Verizon has roundly trounced Sprint by advertising improved coverage and reception.

However, unlike T-Mobile, Sprint has the iPhone. This move – beyond any network improvements or handset acquisitions – is what’s keeping the company afloat. The net loss shown this year happened because Sprint was supporting the iPhone, a wild situation in which a company’s best-seller is actually dragging it down.

If the iPhone taught consumes anything it’s that mobile broadband is a right, not a privilege. The right to Instagram, Yelp, and browse all day and night is seemingly god-given and that same god knows that the iPhone hasn’t been useful for making calls these last few years. In short, we’re looking at a product that would upend any carrier’s view of the world, not just Sprint’s.

For decades, carriers worried about getting calls from point A to point B. Now they have to worry about tethering, massive data downloads to small devices, and always-on connectivity. They have to worry about angry Tweets, upset Facebook posts, and maintain gear that is cutting edge and prone to failure. So, in the end, it didn’t make financial sense to go the popular route, but hopefully it will buoy Sprint’s prospects in the long term.

The iPhone taught carriers that it wasn’t enough to dump out a feature phone or two and keep the power on in the switch room. Sprint’s troubles – masquerading as opportunity – is the finest example of the change that is currently rolling over the operator landscape.

photo credit: ucumari via photopin cc

Sprint Nextel this morning released its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2011 as well as the full-year results.

The company reported a net loss of $1.3 billion for the quarter, and $2.9 billion for the whole of 2011.

The company reported total net subscriber additions of 1.6 million during the quarter, the best quarterly result in six years and bringing total subscribers to the highest level in Sprint’s history.

Now serving roughly 55 million customers, the company said it is seeing “strong iPhone sales”, selling 1.8 million of the popular smartphone in Q4, of which 40 percent was to new customers.

However, the iPhone launch also had a negative impact on its balance sheet, due to increased equipment net subsidies and sales expenses, the company said.

From the press release:

Strong revenue growth and cost management partially offset the impact of increased equipment net subsidies and sales expense associated with the successful launch of the iPhone. Forty percent of Sprint’s 1.8 million iPhone sales in the fourth quarter were to new customers.

Based on internal estimates, including incremental costs associated with iPhone sales, the combined impact of iPhone and Network Vision costs reduced fourth quarter Adjusted OIBDA margin, which was 10.8 percent, by approximately 8.8 percentage points.

Based on internal estimates, Sprint Nextel says the combined impact of iPhone and Network Vision costs reduced fourth quarter Adjusted OIBDA of $842 million by approximately $684 million.

In case you were wondering: OIBDA is operating income (or loss) before depreciation and amortization. Adjusted OIBDA excludes severance, exit costs, and other special items.

Sprint has been spending the past few weeks quietly pumping out software updates that remove Carrier IQ from affected devices, and now it looks like Sprint’s flagship Android device (for now) will be able to run wild and free.

Thanks to an update that started making the rounds yesterday, Samsung’s Galaxy S II variant the Epic 4G Touch joins a handful of Sprint devices to get the Carrier IQ cleanup treatment.

Aside from giving Carrier IQ the boot (which Sprint refers to as a “security update”), the new build also includes updated modems and a fix for an issue involving multiple calendar alerts. The only other notable addition in the new update is support for the Commercial Mobile Alert System, which allows Sprint to push out critical public safety updates to customers in the event of an emergency.

While this release is the first official one that removes Carrier IQ from Sprint’s Galaxy S II, Samsung has been working on a clean build for some time now. To wit, a Carrier IQ-free software build for the Epic 4G Touch was leaked one day prior to Sprint’s announcement that they would discontinue use of the oft-maligned diagnostics tool.

If your Epic 4G Touch hasn’t yet been graced with the update, it’s only a matter of time — according to Sprint, the OTA rollout will should be complete within 10 days. Of course, if you’re really impatient, you could always load up a flashy new custom ROM and be done with Carrier IQ for good.

For the second time over the course of a year, it would seem as though Sprint’s ready to kill the BlackBerry PlayBook. A new version of the PlayBook OS is set to debut in February, but according to an EOL (End of Life) report out of SprintFeed, Sprint isn’t prepared for the wait. Not even for a week.

Of course, the WiFi-only PlayBook will still be available at various office stores like Best Buy and from RIM directly, but Sprint’s execution of the PlayBook marks the end of the product’s life on a carrier shelf.

At least for now. Rumors of a new BlackBerry PlayBook have been swirling around as of late, and just a couple days ago former CEO Jim Balsillie confirmed the existence of such a device. Still, it’ll likely be a while before PlayBook 2 hits the market and I’d be comfortable assuming that, even with the price cuts, RIM still has quite a few tablets it’d like to unload.

That said, getting the boot from Sprint likely isn’t great news over at Waterloo, but the good news is that it’ll hopefully be replaced by a tablet with a 1.5GHz processor, an NFC chip, and support for 42Mbps HSPA+.

Maybe specs like that will fare better.

Most of the furor surrounding the Carrier IQ diagnostic software has wound down by now, but that doesn’t mean that the companies involved have already forgotten. HTC has confirmed to The Verge that they were working with Sprint to push out maintenance updates that would remove the Carrier IQ software from affected devices.

The rollout already seems to have begun, albeit slowly — a recent update for the Evo 3D has indeed removed Carrier IQ, along with packing some battery and performance fixes. There’s no word yet on when other devices will soon experience life without Carrier IQ, though I imagine it’ll take some time to bake up an update for each particular handset.

Samsung couldn’t be reached for comment at time of writing, but hopefully they’re working on something similar as more than a few of their Android handsets have been revealed to run the Carrier IQ software.

Sprint has been in something of a holding pattern recently where Carrier IQ was concerned. Back in December, representatives from the country’s third-largest wireless carrier confirmed that Sprint would no longer be “tasking” devices for diagnostic data, although they made no mention of any efforts to remove the software. Well, no public mention anyway.

Geek.com reported at the time that Sprint had entered into back-room talks with several of their hardware partners (HTC included) in which they stressed the importance of removing the Carrier IQ software from affected devices on the network as soon as possible. Not a surprising move considering the kerfuffle they and other companies were embroiled in thanks to Carrier IQ’s initial PR blunders, but announcing that they were taking steps to remedy the issue via software update could have scored Sprint some serious brownie points.

If I had to guess, it all came down to an issue of timing — if Sprint made it publicly known that they and their hardware partners were working on a fix with no ETA, they would open themselves up to scores of emails, forum posts and blog entries about why the company has yet to deliver. Rather than risk another PR headache, Sprint (perhaps wisely) kept their collective head down until things blew over, and are now working to make things right.

Sprint’s LTE network is only slated to go live in a handful of markets right now, but the country’s third largest wireless carrier is wasting no time in introducing some hew hardware to take advantage of the nascent network.

We were all thrown for a loop when a Sprint Galaxy Nexus popped up in an online ad recently, and the company has just recently confirmed that the handset is indeed the real deal.

Sprint hasn’t been overly forthcoming with detail, but their version of the new Nexus only has 16GB of internal storage (the Verizon model has 32GB), although it reportedly sports a faster processor than its Verizon cousin.

While the Galaxy Nexus will probably be enough to whet Sprint Android fans’ appetites for a while, it won’t be making its debut alone. The LG Viper 4G LTE packs a 4-inch Nova display, a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread, and an NFC chip with full support for Google Wallet.

Like another LTE device announced today, the Viper is also meant to ease your sense of eco-guilt, as its case is made partially of recycled plastic and its ships with a super-efficient AC adapter. It certainly lacks some of the wow-factor the Galaxy Nexus has, and early impressions seem mixed, but it could prove to be a solid option for those who LTE connectivity without a hefty price tag.

Well that was… timely. It was just a little while ago that Sprint CEO Dan Hesse dropped some details about his company’s forthcoming network, and now a Sprint Galaxy Nexus ad has just appeared on CNET’s website.

It’s slated as being the company’s first LTE phone, which according to Hesse’s LTE timeline indicates a launch during the first half of 2012. If this ad proves to be legitimate (and I’ve got all my fingers crossed), Sprint customers may truly be rewarded for their patience. Hovering over the bottom right touchpoint reveals a very tantalizing tidbit: Sprint’s variant will apparently have a 1.5GHz processor instead of the 1.2GHz proc as seen in the international and Verizon models. Wow.

It wouldn’t be the first time the Galaxy Nexus was mistakenly outed before an official announcement — one of Verizon’s holiday ads got some play on Android fansites over Thanksgiving weekend, and it too outed the Galaxy Nexus. The ad itself seems tied to a “CES Live Feed,” so it’s very possible that we could see this very device when the TechCrunch Gadgets team heads for Vegas.

Update: The ad already seems to have disappeared from the page in question, but here are some screenshots that I snapped for posterity:

Developing…

Not wanting to be outdone by their larger rivals, Sprint also has a big LTE-related announcement today. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse just confirmed to everyone at Citigroup’s 22nd Global Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference that Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio will be the company’s first LTE markets.

Those cities are just the tip of the iceberg though, as Sprint ultimately wants their LTE network lit up in ten markets before the first half of 2012 rolls around. Sprint also lit up their first LTE tower cluster in Kankakee, Illinois of all places, so I’d expect Chicago to taste those high speeds before long, but the other launch markets remain a mystery.

According to a tweet from Sprint’s official Twitter account, those markets will also receive an upgrade to their 3G network as well but the 140 character format doesn’t exactly lend itself well detailed explanations. It likely has to do with the multi-mode base stations Sprint has been deploying as part of their Network Vision plan, which are meant to help the streamline their network(s) by consolidating cell sites.

The news should come as a welcome surprise to Sprint customers who have been stranded without 4G coverage, as Sprint and off-again-on-again network partner Clear’s WiMax rollout has recently crawled to a standstill. By the time that their first LTE markets go live, it will have been almost exactly two years since Sprint’s Evo 4G was released. Customers itching for 4G where there was none before should be able to move into a LTE device with a minimum of contract-related headaches, and they may finally be able to justify paying that $10 premium data fee.

Long-time readers may know that I’m a sucker for white phones, so today is something like Christmas Part Two for me. New details have surfaced about two new pearlescent phones: the white Epic 4G Touch and the white Galaxy Nexus.

Sprint’s (unfortunately named) Galaxy S II Epic Touch variant is the more imminent release, as the white model will be hitting all of the company’s sales channels on January 8 with a $199 price tag.

We’ve talked about the GSIIE4GT in-depth before, but in case you were wondering, it sports a 1.2 GHz Exynos processor, a 4.52 Super AMOLED Plus display and a heaping helping of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. Sprint’s a little late here – AT&T and T-Mobile have already rolled out their white GSII variants — but more chromatic choices are always welcome.

Meanwhile, a white Samsung Galaxy Nexus will see the light of day in Europe before this year’s Mobile World Conference kicks off on February 27 according to Pocket-Lint,. Online retailer Handtec has already opened pre-orders for the pearly handset, with the 16GB model going for £496.79 ($770). The international Galaxy Nexus comes with full support for AT&T and T-Mobile’s data networks, so I don’t expect it to be too long before people with too much money snag a white GalNex to flaunt around town.

Fan though I may be of Samsung’s Android 4.0-powered gray monolith, I’m hoping against hope that the white model will officially make its way stateside. It’s been rumored that the GSM Galaxy Nexus will soon hit AT&T, and a white Nexus S with support for AT&T’s 3G bands surfaced not too long after the original Nexus S debuted. It’s a tenuous connection at best, but hey — a guy can hope right?

With the AT&T-T-Mobile merger officially dead, Sprint is taking a moment to reflect on their own wisdom in opposing it from the beginning.

A press release lauds the retraction of the bid as “the right decision,” says that success would have meant “an undeniable duopoly,” and commends the DoJ and FCC for a job well done. Very effusive, as they have every reason to be.

After all, what they have have indeed been saying since the beginning — the duopoly, job losses, and so on — was in all likelihood true. And while it would have been bad for consumers, it might have been fatal to Sprint. Competing against one hundred-million-subscriber carrier is hard enough; competing against two would have made things intolerable. A couple years in such harsh environment might have relegated them to the dungeon occupied by local and specialty carriers.

Now, not only do they not have to deal with that duopoly, but AT&T will be shelling out billions and their long-term plans will be interrupted. Sprint, on the other hand, has been positioning itself based on the assumption that the merger would not go through, and they will emerge from this with their reputation as a customer-driven company intact and shinier than ever.

Just a day after Minnesota Senator Al Franken published reports on how carriers and device vendors use Carrier IQ, Sprint seems to be taking steps to distance themselves the mobile monitoring company. According to MobileBurn, Sprint has confirmed that they will be disabling their use of Carrier IQ software on affected devices.

They’ve got a lot of them too: in response to an inquiry from Senator Franken, Sprint recently revealed that 26 million Sprint devices have made it into customers’ hands with Carrier IQ on-board.

For now, it seems as though Sprint simply won’t be “tasking” devices for diagnostic data, and that the software will remain on those devices. That may change soon though: a report from Geek.com indicates that HTC and Sprint’s other hardware partners have been asked to push out over-the-air software updates that don’t include Carrier IQ. Sprint representatives offer no comment.

The one thing Sprint doesn’t make mention of is what the next step is. If this turns out to be the end of the two companies’ long-term relationship, then it stands to reason that Sprint will no longer be asking hardware partners to integrate Carrier IQ’s software going forward. That is, at least, until they can figure out another way to get that much-needed diagnostic information.

Now that a major carrier has discontinued their use of Carrier IQ (at least for now), an important question comes to mind: what does this mean for Sprint’s network? The two companies have worked together since 2006, and I doubt that their relationship would have continued for so long unless it actually resulted in improvements for the network and for customer satisfaction.

Sprint’s email mentioned “evaluating options regarding this diagnostic software as well as Sprint’s diagnostic needs,” which to me speaks to the importance they place on maintaining their network. I can’t help but wonder if we’ll see how valuable Carrier IQ’s data is to carriers if/when the two companies part ways.

Senator Al Franken pressed AT&T, Sprint, Samsung, and HTC over two weeks ago for answers about their use of Carrier IQ, the controversial monitoring software that sparked fears that our personal data was being tracked without consent. Now that the deadline has come and gone, Senator Franken had a chance to review their statements and publish them in full on his website.

After reviewing each company’s official responses to his questions, Senator Franken noted that he’s still “very troubled” by the situation at hand:

“People have a fundamental right to control their private information,” he said. “After reading the companies’ responses, I’m still concerned that this right is not being respected. The average user of any device equipped with Carrier IQ software has no way of knowing that this software is running, what information it is getting, and who it is giving it to-and that’s a problem.”

Everything began with Carrier IQ, who was the first party Senator Franken asked for more information. Their response [PDF] was one of those published on the Senator’s website, but given how transparent they have been after their initial attempt to contest Trevor Eckhart’s findings backfired, there isn’t much new material to cover.

In short, they state that Carrier IQ’s data collection consists of carrier-specified metrics, doesn’t track the content of emails or text messages, doesn’t happen in real-time, and is encrypted. They also fess up to a recently-discovered bug in which SMS messages may inadvertently be sent to Carrier IQ along with other diagnostic data, but they’re apparently hard at work on a fix.

Not bad, but some of the really juicy stuff comes from everyone else Franken wanted answers from. Let’s take a look:

AT&T:

AT&T notes that out of all of their wireless customers, only around 1% of them use devices that have Carrier IQ installed on them. This figure translates into roughly 900,000 customers — not a number to sneeze at, but one that pales in comparison to Sprint.

The company goes on to outline different types of Carrier IQ-enabled devices. The following devices are said to have the CIQ software “integrated and active”: the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, Pantech Pursuit II, Pantech Breeze 3, Pantech Link 2, Sierra Wireless Shockwave, LG Thrill, ZTE Avail, ZTE Z331, Motorola Atrix 2, and the Motorola Bravo. Furthermore, the software is present (but not active) on the HTC Vivid, LG Nitro, and Samsung’s Galaxy S II Skyrocket.

Carrier IQ is also present in the BlackBerry and Android versions of AT&T’s Mark the Spot app, which allows users to mark their particular location if they experience call drops or network issues. The app originally debuted on the iPhone in late 2009, albeit without the CIQ software as part of it. AT&T also notes that the diagnostic data is erased from their CIQ servers after 60 days have gone by.

Sprint:

It should come as no surprise at this point that Sprint is one of Carrier IQ’s most prominent carrier partners: the two companies have been working together since 2006, and with nearly 26 million (!) Sprint devices currently have the diagnostic monitoring software.

That doesn’t mean, however, that 26 million devices get pinged at the same time; rather, only 1.3 million of those devices can send information at once. Much like AT&T though, Sprint repeatedly mentions that none of the data that Carrier IQ collects is human-readable, or is shared with other parties. Sprint also mentions that Carrier IQ stores user data on Sprint’s behalf for between 30 and 45 days, and Sprint stores Carrier IQ’s raw data for up to six months.

Sprint doesn’t list every device of theirs that has Carrier IQ installed, probably for the sake of brevity. They do however give up a list of device vendors on whose wares Carrier IQ runs, and it’s quite a doozy: Audiovox, Franklin, Huawei, Kyocera, LG, Motorola, Novatel, Palmone, Sanyo, and Sierra Wireless

HTC:

According the company’s best estimates, around 6.3 million HTC devices in the United States have Carrier IQ installed on them. They mention that in none of those cases did HTC install Carrier IQ of their volition; rather, they did so at the request of individual carrier partners. The company repeatedly states that they aren’t an “intended recipient” of Carrier IQ’s diagnostic data, and therefore have no access to it, but that doesn’t mean some of the data isn’t being stored anyway.

As noted by Trevor Eckhart in his tests with an Evo 3D, some data (think key inputs, locations, etc.) are in fact being stored in a log file on the device, which Carrier IQ has stated should not be happening. HTC doesn’t mention as much in their response, probably because it’s outside the scope of the senator’s line of questioning, but hopefully they address the situation soon. While we wait for further clarification from HTC on why that data is being stored in a log file on their devices, here are the all the devices that currently run Carrier IQ:

• Sprint: Hero, Snap, Touch Pro 2, Evo 4G, Evo Shift 4G, Evo 3D, Evo Design
• T-Mobile: HTC Amaze 4G
• AT&T: HTC Vivid

That’s not all though — HTC also mentions that “components of Carrier IQ” exist on the Merge, Acquire, Desire, Wildfire, Flyer and an unnamed variant of Hero.

Samsung:

Like HTC, Samsung has installed Carrier IQ on their devices at the request of the carriers, and they number of affected devices is pretty impressive. Samsung pegs the number of devices they have sold in the U.S. with Carrier IQ installed at nearly 23 million, all of which run the gamut as far as price, operating system and carrier.

If you’ve been paying attention to the Carrier IQ situation, then you may remember that Carrier IQ was discovered to be running on Samsung smartphones very early on. Now, thanks to their response to Sen. Franken’s inquiry, here’s the full list of Samsung devices that have Carrier IQ installed (in one form or another).

• Sprint: SPH-Z400, SPH-M220, SPH-M320, SPH-M240, SPH-M330, SPH-M360, Instinct, Instinct S30, Instinct HD, Rant, Highnote, Exclaim, Reclaim, Intrepid, Moment, Seek, Restore, Epic 4G, Epic 4G Touch, Intercept, Transform, Galaxy Tab 7.0, Factor, Trender, Galaxy Prevail, Replenish, Conquer 4G, and Transform Ultra.
• Cricket: Hue, Messager Touch, Chrono, Freeform III
• T-Mobile: Galaxy S II, Exhibit 4G
• AT&T: Galaxy S II Skyrocket

Like HTC, it also appears that some Samsung devices contain “dormant” CIQ, which could trigger false positives when run through one of the many Carrier IQ detection apps. Samsung hasn’t disclosed with devices have this dormant code, but I imagine devs and enthusiasts will have a pretty comprehensive list worked up before long.

Sprint put on its knight-in-shining-armor hat this morning, agreeing to pay $1.6 billion over the next few years to access Clearwire’s WiMax network. Without it, Clearwire would have had to choose between paying up on a $237 million interest payment or continuing to build out its LTE network — a necessity in terms of competition for both Clearwire and Sprint.

The deal consists of Sprint paying $926 million for unlimited 4G WiMax services between 2012 and 2013, reports MocoNews. In the meantime, Sprint is also pledging an advance of $350 million paid over a two-year period for Access to Clearwire’s forthcoming LTE capacity (as long as Clearwire hits certain benchmarks along the way). This will allow Clearwire to pay off its debt without derailing plans for its LTE network. That said, Sprint needs LTE just as desperately, so it only makes sense that Sprint would cover for its struggling partner.

The agreement allows for Sprint’s use of the WiMax network through 2015, though it’s only committed through 2013, at which point it will hopefully be transitioning to LTE. After 2013, the deal moves to a usage-based pricing model for access to the WiMax network. The deal also outlines long-term usage-based pricing models for Clearwire’s LTE services through 2012.

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse affirmed the relationship, issuing the following prepared statement:

These agreements are a result of the technical MOU we outlined during our third quarter results call and extend our relationship with Clearwire. It provides Sprint improved pricing, allows us to continue to provide WiMAX 4G services to our customers today and to new customers in the future and provides additional LTE capacity to help complement our Network Vision strategy and meet our customers’ growing data demands.

Clearwire’s $237 million interest payment was due today, so this deal couldn’t have come at a better time.

Sprint, always looking for a way to undercut their competitors, has just announced two new mobile broadband data plans that give you more bang for your buck. Mobile broadband customers can now play with 6GB of data per month for $49.99, while the truly adventurous can have 12GB of data per month for $79.99.

Hotspot and tablet-specific data plans have been reconfigured as well: tablet customers can score 1GB of data for $19.99 per month, while 3GB will cost users $34.99.

To accompany their new broadband plans, Sprint has also pulled back the curtains on a new Huawei mobile hotspot. Dubbed the Express, this no-nonsense hotspot is priced to move at $29 so certain Sprint customers will just be swimming in savings.

Sprint’s new data plans certainly seem like a better value than comparable plans on AT&T and Verizon, but there’s a catch: Sprint’s 4G WiMax network has seen better days. While Sprint has more-or-less confirmed that they and network partner Clearwire would continue working together for at least a little while longer, the rollout of new WiMax markets was slowed down dramatically in recent months. Long story short: if you don’t have Sprint’s 4G WiMax service already, there’s a very real chance that you won’t get it at all.

Still, it’s not a shabby deal if you’ve been bathing in Sprint’s WiMax signal for a while now. The plans are available to all new and existing mobile broadband customers, so you data-hungry Sprint customers should get on the horn and renegotiate your plans.

Sprint is no stranger to forging big-name partnerships — the NASCAR Sprint Cup comes to mind — but this time the folks in Overland Park have struck a deal with a rather unexpected party. Sprint has just announced that after nine months of competition, they have been named the official wireless provider of San Diego, California.

According to the terms of the deal, Sprint will provide more than 3,000 devices to municipal staff, from their EVO series of Android phones to BlackBerrys to mobile broadband modems. Interestingly enough, iPhones don’t appear on the list of supported products, though I suspect more than a few staffers lobbied long and hard for them. Sprint, also looking to continue their focus on going green, is working to create a recycling program for all of the municipal government’s used wireless devices.

In exchange for their devices and service, Sprint stands to pick up a cool $2.6 million over the course of the city’s two-year contract. The San Diego municipal government has the option to extend the deal for up to another three years if needed, though given the strength of their competitors, it’s tough to say if Sprint can remain the most worthwhile option for the city over the next five years.

Still, Sprint has gotten a lot of mileage out of their government contracts over the years, and the addition of San Diego to the list adds to Sprint’s recent string of victories. In addition to breaking single-day sales records with the iPhone 4S, Sprint also reported solid Q3 financials a few weeks back.

No one is more excited about the iPhone’s availability at Sprint than CEO Dan Hesse. And it’s no surprise either, seeing that the carrier is investing at least $15.5 billion over the next four years just to offer the device to customers. That said, Hesse has been tooting the iPhone horn as much as possible, taking special note of its efficient use of data. He even went so far as to say that the iPhone’s data handling may quite possibly keep Sprint’s unlimited data plans alive longer than expected.

According to Hesse, the iPhone is better at picking up WiFi signals than Android devices, making it easier for users to jump off their 3G connection onto a network. This is, of course, great news to any network as it unloads a good deal of traffic. In the same vein, Hesse said that Apple’s iPhone app requirements result in less data traffic from apps, as they tend to employ the network less than other platforms’ apps.

“One of the beauties of carrying the iPhone is it extends the period of time and increases the likelihood of us maintaining unlimited data longer because it uses our network so efficiently,” said Hesse in an interview with Forbes. However, if smartphone adoption continues to grow (especially at the rate it’s growing now), unlimited data will cease to be a feasible option for any carrier.

Sprint Nextel, the no. 3 carrier in the United States, reported its quarterly earnings today, and they’re quite solid. In Q3 2011, the company generated consolidated net operating revenues of $8.3 billion, up from $8.15 billion in the same period last year and relatively flat compared to Q2 2011.

The company booked a quarterly loss of $301 million (or 10 cents per share), roughly a third the loss it reported in the same quarter a year ago ($911 million).

For the quarter, Sprint added nearly 1.3 million net wireless customers but notably lost roughly 44,000 net postpaid subscribers, more than analysts had expected.

The company in a statement posits that the decline of subscribers under contract is “likely due to customer expectations of a fourth quarter iPhone launch”.

Sprint Nextel also said that the response to the introduction of the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, which launched October 14, surpassed its initial expectations both with current and new customers.

From the quarterly earnings report (emphasis ours):

Growth in Sprint brand net additions was achieved without the benefit of Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, which launched Oct. 14. The launch of this iconic device resulted in Sprint’s best ever day of sales in retail, web and telesales for a device family in Sprint history.

The response to this device by current and new customers has surpassed initial expectations. The iPhone is expected to be accretive for Sprint, and iPhone users are expected to be among Sprint’s most profitable customers.

All eyes on Sprint’s next quarterly earnings report.

Move over, Kyocera DuraMax — Sprint has just officially announced the Motorola Admiral, the first Android smartphone in their growing Direct Connect lineup.

The Admiral takes a 1.2GHz processor, 4GB of internal storage, and 3G hotspot support and wraps it all in a mil-spec 810G compliant body. The 3.1-inch VGA display swathed in Gorilla Glass sits above a 4 row QWERTY keyboard, and a 5MP camera occupies the device’s rear.

Durable body aside, the Admiral’s other claim to fame is its support for Sprint’s CDMA-powered Direct Connect. With the iDEN network slated to be shuttered in favor of bolstering their CDMA coverage, Direct Connect allows users to chirp to fellow Sprint and Nextel customers with the same reckless abandon as before.

If you’ve been waiting for a rough-and-tumble smartphone that lets you bark orders to your crew as well as it lets you fire off a few emails, the Admiral may be worth a second glance. Expect it to hit Sprint’s sales channels on October 23 for $99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

HTC has just added another phone to its line of EVO handsets, the HTC EVO Design 4G. While it can’t necessarily match the specs of its EVO 3D cousin, the EVO Design 4G does have a trick up it’s sleeve — compatibility with CDMA, HSPA and GSM networks, making it the first global phone in the EVO family.

Along with global network support, the EVO Design 4G also sports a 4-inch WVGA 960×540 touchscreen, which is just a tad smaller than the EVO 4G and EVO 3D. The phone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread powered by a Qualcomm 1.2GHz processor, though we won’t be seeing the same dual-core snappiness we did on the 3D.

HTC’s Sense 3.0 UI is also alive and well on the new handset, along with a 5-megapixel rear shooter and 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat.

Sprint is offering the EVO Design 4G for $99 on-contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. Availability begins October 23.

Alright, there’s been a lot of conflicting information floating around regarding Sprint’s iPhone 4S and its locked/unlocked status, but a Sprint spokesperson has just offered Macworld her official word. The iPhone will indeed be unlocked at first, but a SIM lock will be “pushed to the devices shortly after launch.”

Seriously?

She goes on to say that after the update goes out, Sprint users looking to do a bit of globetrotting can use an included microSIM to roam internationally, albeit with Sprint’s added roaming costs.

The upshot to this situation is that Sprint will unlock your iPhone 4S if you’re a customer in good standing. Presumably this means that your bills are paid promptly and in full for a certain period of time, but the spokesperson offered no further detail.

The big question here is why Sprint didn’t just lock the phone down from the beginning and perform the procedure for certain customers a la Verizon. It’s a system that’s worked just fine for all of Sprint’s other CDMA/GSM phones for years, so it certainly wouldn’t have ruffled any feathers. PhoneScoop thinks it’s simply a technical error, and I think that’s the only convincing explanation at this point.

The unlocking issue will go unnoticed by a vast majority of iPhone users who are used to signing multiyear contracts and leaving it at that. It’s the avid travellers who’d like to save a little on their monthly bills that lose here, unless someone figures out a way to block the update.