I'm guessing Sprint is doing really well in their prepaid markets... geez...
I wonder at what point that stops working? Two years ago, VMUSA had only a few Android phones, all somewhat middling to downright crappy. But they were cheap, service was cheap, and expectations were lower.
You bring out phones at the $300 and up range, and people are less tolerant of things like no service inside a house, or data speeds measured in Kbps, or no OS upgrades or issue patches ever.
I also have to think people will grow intolerant of the upgrade path. You bought a phone 6 months ago for $300, and now you want the latest Android OS? Well, here's a different $300 phone we just released with it. Your old phone is old news, regardless of the premium you paid, and they won't be upgrading it.
How long can that go on for, though? It seems it started with the Triumph. "Premium" phone for prepaid, but with some issues. They never address the issues, and roll out the Evo V. "Premium" phone for prepaid, but with some issues. They never address the issues, but hey, here's an SII instead. And eventually an SIII (do they already know the SII has issues??)
Data is sort of similar. Don't like Kbps data? Here's some Wimax. Oh, don't like that Wimax won't work through a wall? Here's some LTE. What happens when people realize they don't live in one of the 7 cities that have LTE? Though this is less VM's fault, and at least it is cheaper than a Sprint contract...
At some point peoples' expectations will grow past what VM is delivering. I wonder when they will stop the game of just generating interest by rolling out new devices? Or maybe their business model expects a lot of churn?