In an attempt to shamelessly promote its WiMax service, Sprint has taken it upon itself to give away an iPad carrying case with a separate pouch for its Overdrive 3G/4G modem router. The 4G Case by Sprint is now available for free with the purchase of the Overdrive from participating Best Buy stores.
I failed to see what’s so shameless about for a company to promote its services, other than being labeled by a columnist / reporter. That, is what I call “shameless”.
Wow!!! Dissing them just like Engadget. Copy Cat
Well, that depends on how you interpret shameless. I didn’t think of it as a negative myself when reviewing the article… more of “shameless” in the sense that it is a valid attack on AT&T’s network. As in, no shame required to put down the smaller AT&T 3G network, topping it with both Sprint 3G and 4G service in Overdrive.
You could say we were disagreeing with the competition, pointing out that Sprint is being quite valid… we certainly weren’t being a copy cat in attacking Sprint when we made the statement, so Jesse and JR, I’d have to say you’re both wrong there.
Keep in mind Verizon has trained their employees to promote the Palm Pre Plus and its free Mobile Hotspot service as a superior pairing to AT&T’s 3G iPad as well.
but isn’t this being done by Best Buy??? Not Sprint
Why wouldn’t they hop on the iPad momentum right now? It’s a best selling tablet computer out right now and offers wifi and so far the MiFi and Overdrive are perfect with it.
Jesse,
The deal is a partnership between Best Buy and Sprint. Sprint may sell the iPad case directly in the future, but Best Buy is throwing it in for free, taking a discount on their commission.
I suspect Sprint is giving the cases to Best Buy at, or slightly above cost in exchange for making sure they get sold. Since Best Buy is selling iPads (and the only retailer aside from Apple that can right now), it can easily close the deal on selling an iPad as well, so Best Buy is probably making money on the deal.
What I find particularly telling, is that our competition decided to just post the image of the case without even elaborating on how people could get one if they were interested. I wonder why that’s more acceptable than interjecting a bit of valid hyperbole.
Whatever the reason, sprint is smart to do this. The overdrive modem is really small and for those people who don’t want to wait for the 3g version of the ipad this is perfect,especially for those who live in the 4g area. If you live in the 4g area and are going to pay att for 3g service you might as well get sprint and get 4g. Its a win win except for the fact that you have to carry an extra item (big deal). When the htc evo comes out you won’t need the overdrive. You can use the phone as modem.
If shameless equals free, Im all for it!