The Essential Phone’s Exclusive Carrier Will Be Sprint

Essentials-Phone-Top

Andy Rubin’s Android startup, Essential, announced its first phone earlier this month. No details on carrier partnerships were available at the time, but Essential promised to provide more information ahead of the launch. Now, the company has announced Sprint, and only Sprint, will be the carrier partner for the Essential Phone.

Essential President Niccolo de Masi talked this agreement up with some over-the-top language, calling Sprint “the network of the future.” Essential insists this was a strategic decision, but I have difficulty believing that — it’s hard not to see this is a defeat for Essential. Carriers are extremely cautious when dealing with an unknown new OEM. Essential clearly wanted to set itself apart from the riffraff by getting carriers to place a bet on its phone, which by the way is technically called the PH-1 (Ph+one=phone).

The larger carriers were apparently not impressed by Essential’s pitch or its clever model naming. ATT and Verizon are the big dogs, so getting a phone on one of those carriers is ideal. T-Mobile is also growing rapidly. Sprint, on the other hand, has been losing subscribers and is now the smallest of the big four carriers. Consequently, it’s placed some bets on weird phones in hopes of scoring a surprise hit. It’s the only US carrier partner for the Blackberry KEYone, the HTC U11, and a few others. Sprint seems happy to take anything, so calling this a strategic decision doesn’t ring true.

This deal brings with it some peril for Essential. While Sprint is the only carrier partner, Essential is selling the device unlocked as well. The term “exclusive” can be confusing to consumers who assume they need to be on the exclusive carrier to get the phone. Google dealt with the same misperception when it launched the Pixel with Verizon as the exclusive carrier. The Pixel is also for sale on the Google Store unlocked, but few people know about the Google Store. Essential is going to have a hard time making people aware of the unlocked version of its phone. No one knows about Essential’s store.

, The Essential Phone’s Exclusive Carrier Will Be Sprint, #Bizwhiznetwork.com Innovation ΛI

There is also some risk that Sprint will insist on cluttering the phone with junk apps and delaying OTA updates until it has granted approval. The main advantage of going with Sprint is that consumers can more easily buy the phone, which will be offered on installment plans rather than full retail price.

Essential is charging $700 for the unlocked version of the phone, but Sprint has yet to announce pricing. Going with a single carrier exclusive has not traditionally been a recipe for success. Not everything is going to be the iPhone.

Now read: 25 Best Android Tips to Make Your Phone More Useful

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