No large discounts on Epic for quite a while???

[texphone]

I was talking to a friend who works for Sprint.

He says that unlike Tmobile Vibrant, Sprint does not plan to offer large discounts on the Epic for maybe 9 months.

I find this hard to believe.

What has sprint done in the past - have they really delayed discounts on hot phones for so long? Or is my friend nuts and blowing smoke?

If this is true, I'm going to the Vibrant.

 

[ben7337]

Sprint probably won't offer discounts for the phone. However if it doesn't have stock issues like the evo, it's practically guaranteed that amazon.com, wirefly, and other online retailers will offer discounts, as well as walmart physical stores potentially and maybe costco and others too.

 

[DILands]

It's probably how long it takes Samsung to potentially fill the need of the folks who were waiting for, or gave up, on EVO's.

If they flood the market - I suspect that discounts will be sooner, rather than later. That's a big IF!!!!

 

[texphone]

Sprint probably won't offer discounts for the phone. However if it doesn't have stock issues like the evo, it's practically guaranteed that amazon.com, wirefly, and other online retailers will offer discounts, as well as walmart physical stores potentially and maybe costco and others too.

But dont these secondary sellers have to get a specific extra-commission deal from Sprint in order to make this large phone discounting work profit-wise? I mean they need extra commission from service provider to sell a phone for below cost right? How does this work - anyone know?

 

[ben7337]

But dont these secondary sellers have to get a specific extra-commission deal from Sprint in order to make this large phone discounting work profit-wise? I mean they need extra commission from service provider to sell a phone for below cost right? How does this work - anyone know?

From what I understand sprint gives them a commission for starting a new phone line, and smaller commissions for renewing a 2 yr contract. This is why upgraders don't get deals as good as new customers get. Also they usually require you take a certain plan that costs a certain amount. However the epic 4g already requires the $79.99/month plan which is expensive enough as a contract for them to get good commission. If you go to wirefly, letstalk, amazon, etc they have sections that tell you how they can offer these cheap deals due to commission.