Sprint has indicated that it will most probably drop its unlimited data plans if it takes on the iPhone later next month. According to the latest rumours, Apple is almost certainly going to announce Sprint as an iPhone partner in October, shortly before the launch of the iPhone 5. Thus, the potential adoption of the iPhone is the reason Sprint will be dropping its unlimited data plans. This is probably the “curse of the iPhone”; now that the most popular smart phone joins its product line-up, it’s being forced to drop one of its most popular services.
Sprint seems to understand the dynamic behind unlimited data plans. In a statement, the company sought to explain that the company does indeed understand the consequences of dropping its popular unlimited data plans. Without unlimited data plans, service providers get tons of calls with customer complaints or inquiries regarding their service plans. Sprint has made it clear that the choice to drop the unlimited data plans is simply because of the surge in demand for data services, following the increasing market share of smart phones, which put a lot of stress on data services.
Sprint has a point when it claims that no service provider was actually designed to offer unlimited data plans. The smart-phone revolution has changed the entire business dynamic of service providers. The iPhone, in particular puts a lot of strain on data networks because iPhone users are more likely to use their phones to surf the web. Now virtually every smart phone has a ton of apps that allow users to stay eternally connected to their favourite social networking sites, all of which puts strain on data networks. On the plus side, the impending release of the iPhone on Sprint’s networks is certainly going to expose the iPhone to a wider audience.
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