NEW ORLEANS--Cricket subscribers have
spoken -- they want more premium phones --
and now the prepaid carrier is ready to deliver.
Cricket customers are beginning to care much
more about technical specifications like larger
screens, faster processors, and better cameras.
Significant sales of the Huawei Mercury, which
leapt to an over 10 percent adoption rate in
the course of two weeks, proves it.
With that in mind, Cricket is going full-speed
ahead with plans to expand its smartphone
road map to include arrange of smartphones,
from entry-level to the premium, with many
more high-end smartphones on their roster,
for a total of 10 new phones by October.
In general, the device mix will include more
screens 4 inches or larger, with a 1GB
processor or better. The goal is to sell entry
level phones in the $100 range and high-end
devices upwards of $300 without a contract.
In addition to launching new phones with top-
tier manufacturers, Cricket also plans to
release LTE-capable smartphones, and plans
to launch at least two before the end of the
year. Although Cricket hasn't deployed LTE, it
did start a commercial trial in Tucson, AZ at the
end of last year.
By 2014, the carrier intends to cover two-thirds
of its population with 4G LTE, both on its own
and with the help of it network or roaming
partners, including Sprint.
In tandem with ramping up the number of
smartphones on offer, Cricket will also scale
back their number of feature phones. Last
year, there were 9 feature phones and by the
end of 2012, they'll have launched only three.
As for Windows Phone, Cricket senior vice
president of device, Matthew Stoiber, says
they've made no commitment yet, but adds,
"We're confident in Windows Phone 8 as an
operating system that will be very marketing,
and we are working with both Microsoft and a
couple of OEMs to determine what the best
device to go to market is."
Stoiber added that offering devices with
diverse operating systems is important to
Cricket. If you're wondering about the iPhone,
Stoiber says, "It sounds like Apple will reach
out to prepaid when it fits their strategy."
Muve Music a key player
A loftier device mix isn't the only element that
attracts new subscribers. In 2012 and beyond,
every Android device Cricket unveils will
support Muve Music, its all-you-can-download
music and ringtone rate plan.
Muve Music's product roadmap will increase
the social features over time: integrating
Facebook, and adding "novel" integration
features later this year. The carrier also plans
to implement what it calls a "lean-back
listening experience" to complement its
current on-demand downloading.
Cricket's senior vice president in charge of
Muve Music, Jeff Toig, sees opportunity to
curate a mobile social experience through
music that's much more involving than what
we see today.
Cricket has momentum on his side. Muve
Music has over 600,000 subscribers, which
Toig says makes them the second largest
music subscription service in the U.S., behind
Rhapsody. Its also in talks with international
operators to license the Muve Music platform,
opening up an additional revenue stream.
There's also great opportunity to expand Muve
Music beyond the tunes and develop similar a
similar service rental for video, books, and
games. They could also take the platform to
tablets and cars. Is that in the stars? Maybe,
but for now, Cricket is focused on building up
music.
"One day we hope that music will be voice
mail," says Toig. "You wouldn't buy a phone
without voicemail."
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