Not sure how crediable this site is, but this may have a reason for the hike.. iPhone rumor du jour: Sprint-powered this summer or here Sprint iPhone to arrive in September? - SlashGear
I was thinking the exact same thing. It makes you wonder what exactly is going on especially since Sprint said that the EVO was coming in summer, but now it is releasing earlier than that and right before the new iphone unveiling. Also, with all the bad press of dropped calls and slow internet, I was wondering why the iPad data was exclusive to AT&T. It made me think that Apple won't renew the contract and gave AT&T the iPad data instead.
If the iphone was announced for Sprint prior to the EVO coming out, then how many people would actually buy the EVO instead of just waiting for the iphone? Now since the EVO is coming out prior to the announcement, it will allow people to try it out and probably keep it if it is a wonderful phone.
If Sprint and Verizon get the iphone, then I think it will be a double-edged sword. The good news is that the big 3 carriers will pretty much have the same phone selection and with that the only way to differenciate themselves would be with price and that could lead to a pricing war. Good for consumers. The potential bad news is what this will do to Android. Apple has 21% of smartphone sales and that is because it is only on 1 carrier. Just think if they release the phone on Sprint and Verizon. That is an extra 140 million customers to target.


