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Sprint won't sell the BlackBerry Priv after all

By Alan Friedman

Updated: Apr 10, 2016, 9:19 PM

Android

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Sprint has apparently decided not to sell the BlackBerry Priv

Back during the beginning of this year, the BlackBerry Priv was available in the U.S. as an exclusive through AT&T. Eventually, T-Mobile started selling the first Android powered BlackBerry as did Verizon. Sprint, rumored to be joining the other three, has apparently had a change of heart. According to a tweet sent from the carrier's customer service account, the Priv is no longer coming to Sprint.

While Sprint could be alarmed by the failure of the Priv to really take off, the $700 price point for the phone makes it hard to find a steady stream of buyers. In fact, just the other day we told you how BlackBerry CEO John Chen admitted that his company priced the Priv too high to make it competitive. He added that BlackBerry has two Android phones in the oven, both of which could be mid-rangers priced in the $300-$400 range. Just the other day, BlackBerry cut the price of the unlocked Priv by $50 to $649.

BlackBerry's latest quarterly earnings report revealed that it sold 600,000 handsets during the three month period. Even if each and every phone sold by BlackBerry in the quarter was a Priv, the Android slider is not getting rung up as much as it should be. Is this what scared Sprint away? Will the nation's fourth largest carrier sell BlackBerry branded mid-range Android models if the manufacturer does produce them?

If there is one carrier that should be simpatico with BlackBerry, it is Sprint. The latter looks up at T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon, while BlackBerry's handset business trails, well, just about every manufacturer. BlackBerry does hope that the next earnings report, which will include a full quarter's worth of Priv sales from Verizon, shows a major improvement.

source: @sprintcare via Crackberry

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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