Sprint to effectively kill Nextel brand
by Brian White 
posted Jun 27th 2007 at 7:28PM
In a seemingly inevitable move, Sprint has decided to drop the Nextel brand from its marketing messaging, corporate logo and just about everything else as of July 1st (but keeping Boost Mobile, yes?). Just a few days after AT&T intros the iPhone to waiting masses, Sprint's marketing will reinvent itself with a focus on data speeds (of all things) as the key differentiator for its network while at the same time, the Nextel branding will fade into oblivion. Sprint plans to keep it on life support, though, for customers still wanting to inquire about Direct Connect (walkie talkie) and other Nextel-specific services. Other than that, bye-bye Nextel. It was great knowin' ya.[Via mocoNews]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
JAmerican @ Jun 27th 2007 8:12PM
Boost Mobile is to Sprint as BET is to MTV. BTW as Boost Mobile is owned by Sprint. Both BET and MTV are both owned by Viacom. Surprised?
They portray Boost Mobile to the black or Rap community.
JAmerican
dcny @ Jun 28th 2007 8:28AM
what took so long, didnt the ceo of sprint say something about this a couple years ago
decab @ Jun 27th 2007 9:28PM
sooo, what does this mean for the Nextel Cup series? does this void the Nextel cup agreement and allow ATT car to race?
someone at sprint must be sayin, "D'ho!"
Charles @ Jun 28th 2007 1:12AM
It was announced like last week it will be soon known as the Sprint Cup
Dan @ Jun 27th 2007 11:30PM
Good. I'm so sick of people walking around with the stupid *BEEP* announcing their whole conversation to the world on speakerphone.
JohnDoe303 @ Jun 28th 2007 1:05PM
Everyone knew this was coming.. The iden network was getting crowded because of boost.. All phone service will be on the CDMA network removing pressure from the Iden network to focus it on direct connect service. The Nextel Cup has been covered and will be rebranded including Sprint. As for the urban boost comment interpret it as you will but Boost is nothing more then prepaid provider. IMO boost was a great move to get Iden devices into the hands of consumers. In the end like I said this is nothing new and should benefit the consumer more then anything.
1250 Sero Package, 7pmN&W, Unl EVDO, Unl txt, Unl pic-mail, Unl vid-mail, Unl M2M = 49.99 Sprint FTW.
elgee02 @ Jun 29th 2007 1:45PM
Can any random Joe walk into a Sprint store and sign up on a Sprint Employee Referal Offer (Sero) plan?
Adrian Williams @ Jun 28th 2007 1:57AM
In 3 years Comcast and TW will buy Sprint
///Mark my words
Justin Time @ Jun 28th 2007 3:06AM
What will all the hicks do when they can no longer pay monthly for PTT functions you can get on $20 children's walkie-talkies? I smell a revolt! Sprint had better bar it's doors, someone's going to steal a Nascar and drive it through their main office.
Andy @ Jun 28th 2007 10:17AM
Way to make yourself sound like a complete moron in front of everyone. First off, you can get Nextel plans that have unlimited PTT included for cheaper than many plans of other companies. Also, "children's walkie-talkies" hardly work across the country now do they? If you are some sort of magician that can make a $20 walkie talkie work from one corner of the country to another, or hey, even more than a few miles, you might be able to sell that for a lot of money. I'd get on that one if I were you, don't forget to share the wealth when you create it.
It amazes me how people think they are insulting rednecks and calling them stupid, when in reality they are the one that looks like the moron. Why don't you chill out a little, if you don't want the service then good for you. A lot of people however find it extremly useful depending on what their jobs are or even just a quick chat with someone.
JT @ Jun 28th 2007 2:04PM
I wonder if they're planning to change the name of their Nascar sponsorship and what that'll do to the AT&T lawsuit.
Uncle Bo @ Jun 28th 2007 8:29PM
NASCAR's Nextel Cup series name will definitely change. There is no official announcement but everyone expects it to change to Sprint Cup in 2008.
In the contract between NASCAR and Sprint/Nextel, it was agreed that the name for the top series could be changed once.
How this affects AT&T/Cingular's sponsorship of the #31 car is, quite literally, the $100 million question. Apparently there is no such one-time name change agreement for race team sponsors. All existing telecom sponsors were grandfathered in when Nextel took over title sponsorship from RJR/Winston but no changes or new sponsors would be allowed in. A judge has already ruled that the #31 team could change its sponsor's name from Cingular to AT&T, and NASCAR has filed suit against AT&T for $100 million. With multi-billion dollars telecoms involved in this melee, don't be surprised if the lawsuit gets appealed to a very high court before a final decision is handed down.
There is a helluva lot more to NASCAR than selling cell phones to rednecks. Most of the Fortune 100 agrees as they're involved in the sport, too. Last time I attended a NASCAR race I was eating filet mignon and grilled asparagus while hanging out in a $450,000 motorcoach. There were dozens and dozens superluxo motorcoaches at the race. Not too many rednecks have that kind of money.
Pat Horne @ Jun 28th 2007 11:28PM
What's wrong with rednecks?
JohnDoe303 @ Jun 29th 2007 2:09PM
@elgee02
No, most phone reps don't even know about it. If you want to learn more visit howardforums or sprintusers for more info. The official website for new lines is http://www.sprint.com/sero.. You'll have to google a sprint e-mail addy but once you do you'll see the accounts and all the benefits. good luck and enjoy it, I do.
SeVeMaS @ Jul 11th 2007 12:31AM
I just love Europe and Asia, they have only one system the GSM 900 GSM 1800 and 3G 2100, that means simple for everyone, only in USA as i know you have so many systems that even the phone companies don't want to make phones in other networks besides GSM like Sonyericsson or Nokia. Motorola makes all the kind of networks just because is american and try to stay with is country.
I really hope that all the companies get to only one system one day or another so you don't need to rent a phone each time you need to go to Europe, unless you have ATT or T-mobile.