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From the New York Times: Spring announced another quarterly loss today of 18 cents a share or US$505 million. The news is bad, as it looks like the mobile telecom is losing some of its biggest customers:

In the first quarter, the company lost 1.1 million subscribers; the total number dropped to 52.8 million.

Analysts do not seem spooked, although Sprint’s CEO is considering a sale of Nextel. The recently announced Clearwire joint venture may help prospects in the near-term, but not right now.

Related posts on billso.com

• 8 May 2008: Google bets big on Sprint and Clearwire’s WiMAX venture
• 6 May 2008: T-Mobile’s parent may buy Sprint
• 22 February 2008: Customer lock-in
• 20 January 2008: Nokia, Sprint announce layoffs
• 27 August 2007: Wireless providers gird themselves for battle
• 14 June 2007: Clearwire signs WiMax deal with DirecTV, EchoStar
• 5 February 2007: Wireless from the inside out

T-Mobile’s parent company, Deutsche Telekom, seems interested in buying Sprint Nextel, according to this Engadget article, which is based on a report from German newspaper Der Spiegel.

Sprint already has enough problems trying to absorb Nextel’s incompatible network. The combined company has bled subscribers ever since the 2005 merger was announced. Check these articles from the Wall Street Journal and Engadget for more of the gory details, including this quote from February 2008:

Sprint lost more money in the fourth quarter of 2007 than the company is worth.

Add GSM to this mix and Sprint’s “deal from hell” would only get worse. However, DT has been rolling out UMTS, a 4G technology that supports GSM and CDMA, in its European and US markets.

The interesting part pf all this is that Nextel may not be included in the deal, according to the Wall Street Journal and Engadget. Spring may spin off Nextel, giving the push-to-talk provider its independence.

Related posts on billso.com

• 23 April 2008: Amazon’s Kindle hasn’t caught fire yet
• 22 Feburary 2008: Sprint and Boost vs Mobi PCS
• 20 January 2008: Nokia, Sprint announce layoffs
• 29 September 2006: ESPN sacked, Helio scrambling

I recently read a review of the Amazon Kindle on BlogNButter.com. The Kindle is a nice idea… but Amazon charges a conversion fee for every DOC, TXT file or PDF you want to put on your device. Since the Sprint connection charges are built-in to the purchase fee, these seems really petty. RSS and newspaper subscriptions are also on a pay-as-you-go basis, which is a shame. I’d use Kindle if unlimited RSS reading was bundled into the purchase price.

US$399 is a steep price tag, especially when the Kindle was on backorder for several weeks after its initial release. Amazon has the Kindle back in stock, and I won’t be ordering one any time soon.

If Amazon really wanted customers like me to use the device, they’d give me a free Kindle. I buy enough books from Amazon every year, after all. We can’t get Amazon Prime here in Hawaii, but we still get free shipping on most orders over US$25. I’d rather get the content through a device.

If the Kindle does survive, expect the price to drop through the floor within 2 years. As I mentioned on 24 March 2008, Kindle would be a great tool for students if the content was free. Perhaps universities could build the textbook charges into the usual fees that get tacked onto tuition bills.

Sprint announced that it will roll out its no-contract, no-credit-check, no-activation-fee mobile phone plan, Boost Mobile, in Hawaii. Pricing is lower than local operator Mobi PCS, according to this Star-Bulletin article. I discussed Mobi PCS on 21 May 2007. Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have announced US$99 per month unlimited mobile plans, but these require contracts. Contracts are one way to lock-in customers, as I noted earlier today. Competition for mobile phone customers has become more intense in the last few months, as I noted on 26 January 2008.

Here’s a bit of chill in the broadband economy.

Monday, rumors swirled that Sprint would lay off several thousand workers this year, after laying off 5000 employees last year. The Nextel network integration has taken more time and money than anticipated, while the company’s WiMax venture stagnates.

Mobile telcos live and die on corporate sales. Nextel customers have been loyal to a fault, but that annoying push-to-talk feature is old news. Companies want lower prices, more features, and superior coverage.

Tuesday, Nokia announced it will layoff 2300 workers at a German manufacturing plant. Production will be moved to lower-cost countries like Romania. Nokia has laid off 9000 more workers in its joint venture with Siemens.

InformationWeek mentions both companies in this article.

In this Reuters article that appeared on Friday, German politicians have vowed to punish Nokia for the plant closure.

Another Reuters article on Friday confirmed that Sprint is laying off 4,000 workers. The company has also confirmed that over 900,000 subscribers have left Sprint in the last year. Sprint stock took a 25 percent dive on the news.