A few weeks ago, we told you Verizon announced plans to carry several new phones, one of which is the Palm Pre. This was an aggressive move, particularly against Sprint because that company is hoping the Pre will bring it back from the brink of oblivion after the company has lost so many customers and is not doing well financially. Verizon has made good on another claim in their announcement—that they’ll also be launching the BlackBerry Tour. And once again, they’re going after Sprint by releasing the device a full week before Sprint does.
Sprint has been promising to release the BlackBerry Tour for a while now, but would only say it was coming “later this summer.” The Tour runs on a 3G network, and comes with a ton of features such as a 3.2 megapixel camera, and enhanced multimedia features that will allow you to surf the Web, stream video, and download music faster than ever. It has internal GPS, and a bright, clear display. It’s also a global device, meaning you can use it to call and text in more than 200 countries. If the rumors are true, it looks like “later this summer” means July 20. That’s good news for Sprint customers and BlackBerry devotees who have anxiously been awaiting the Tour.
What’s not so good news for Sprint is that it looks like Verizon will be launching the Tour on July 12. It’s a blatant attempt to lure yet more customers away from Sprint, especially those early adopters who may not want to wait another eight days to get the Tour.
It’s also interesting to note that these aggressive moves from Verizon come just as Sprint is turning its attention toward, and targeting, the Apple iPhone. They recently launched a new marketing campaign aimed at those who bought the first generation iPhone, and whose contracts should be ending soon, provided they didn’t upgrade to the iPhone 3G and extend their contracts.
The iPhone is still considered by many to be the phone to beat, but while Sprint focuses on pushing the Pre as a preferable iPhone alternative, they would also do well to come up with a strategy to deflect Verizon’s attempts to take an even bigger bite out of their market share. They’re not out of the woods yet.
UPDATE July 2, 2009
Sprint announced today that it will also be releasing the BlackBerry Tour on July 12. Sounds like they’re not ready to be counted out just yet.
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