Sprint has issued a memo to all employees to keep their lips shut about the potentiality of a Sprint-powered iPhone.
The internal memo, which was leaked by the website Sprintfeed, tells Sprint Store retail managers and cashiers to respond to any customer who asks about the Apple phone should say little more than “no comment.”
This is no doubt sparked by the fact that the Wall Street Journal reported Sprint is planning on releasing the next iteration of the iPhone on the same day it comes to Verizon and AT&T.
Although the report is not confirmed, many news outlets including major TV networks, independently reported it as fact.
Nevertheless, there are still many who question the authenticity of the rumors, and given the usual track record of iPhone announcements, it’s probably best to wait until Apple and Sprint hold some sort of joint press conference before anyone starts getting too crazy.
The memo from Sprint could be the result of one of two things. First, Sprint could actually be in deep-level talks with Apple to bring the iPhone 5 (or whatever the next iPhone might be called) to the carrier, and it doesn’t want anyone who may know something to inadvertendly spill the beans.
Second, the rumors could be completely untrue and Sprint doesn’t want any of its employees spouting out incorrect information or getting customer hopes high for no reason.
That being said, for Apple the hard work is pretty much done. Sprint runs on the same kind of network as Verizon so adjustments that need to be made under the hood would be minor. Moreover, Apple is not tied down to any sort of exclusivity agreement so it makes complete financial sense to bring the iPhone to as many carriers as possible.
If the reports are true, the next iPhone would be available on all of the top three mobile networks in the US.
