Sprint Gears Up to Take On iPhone

The company is counting on the new Samsung Instinct handset to stem customer attrition and help it regain market share.
By Robert Holmes ,

Could a new Samsung smartphone save

Sprint-Nextel

(S) - Get Report

? It could, if you believe it will slay the Goliath that is

Apple's

(AAPL) - Get Report

iPhone.

Sprint is counting on the new Samsung Instinct handset to stem customer attrition and to help the wireless carrier regain lost market share. The Instinct, which will be available exclusively through Sprint, is set to debut in June and will require users to have the carrier's unlimited data and voice plan.

To compete with the iPhone's user interface, the Instinct will offer full touch-screen functionality, a virtual QWERTY keypad, visual voicemail, Sprint Navigation and Sprint TV, along with standard calling and messaging. The Instinct will also have a 2.0 megapixel camera with a camcorder. The Instinct will run on Sprint's EV-DO network.

"Samsung designed the Instinct after spending years developing innovative touch-screen technology," said Bill Ogle, chief marketing officer for Samsung Mobile, in a release. "Samsung feels the Instinct will increase our status as the fastest growing mobile-phone manufacturer in the U.S."

Samsung's Got the iPhone Killer Instinct

var config = new Array(); config<BRACKET>"videoId"</BRACKET> = 1474198324; config<BRACKET>"playerTag"</BRACKET> = "TSCM Embedded Video Player"; config<BRACKET>"autoStart"</BRACKET> = false; config<BRACKET>"preloadBackColor"</BRACKET> = "#FFFFFF"; config<BRACKET>"useOverlayMenu"</BRACKET> = "false"; config<BRACKET>"width"</BRACKET> = 265; config<BRACKET>"height"</BRACKET> = 255; config<BRACKET>"playerId"</BRACKET> = 1243645856; createExperience(config, 8);

The companies offered no retail price for the Instinct, leaving many to wonder what an alternative to the iPhone will run consumers. Apple's iPhones are priced at $399 and $499, depending on hard drive storage space. Verizon sells its own touch-screen phone, the Voyager, for $350 with a two-year user contract.

Apple expects to seed its next software update, featuring third-party applications and

Microsoft's

(MSFT) - Get Report

Exchange email compatibility, at the same time the Instinct is set to launch. Additionally, it has long been rumored that Apple will begin selling iPhones that run on 3G wireless networks, enabling faster data transfers, in June.

Shares of Sprint have fallen almost 50% year to date as customers have defected to rivals

AT&T

(T) - Get Report

, which has iPhone exclusivity, and

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

. The carrier is pinning its hopes on new handsets and a joint venture with

Clearwire

(CLWR)

to help in its recovery.

WiMax is yet another type of technology that Sprint hopes to use in order to provide its customer base with fast wireless data transfers over long distances. The joint venture recently received new life after reports emerged that

Comcast

(CMCSA) - Get Report

and

Time Warner

(TWX)

might help fund the project.

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

could be another interested partner, and

Google

(GOOG) - Get Report

is also thought to be mulling whether to participate.

Also on Tuesday,

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

unveiled its N810 Internet Tablet, the company's first device made exclusively for WiMax connections. The N810 will launch in the summer, although Sprint has promised to bring WiMax to only three initial markets, Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

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