Sprint looks to remake its brand
It can take years to build a solid reputation in any industry, especially in the phone service business. While it’s hard to recall, Sprint had a glowing reputation, with good customer service and a strong network. A number of network problems, like the Great Nextel Failure of 2006 and increasingly horrible customer service pushed customers away in droves - mostly into the arms of AT&T Wireless and Verizon.
Sprint’s looking to turn the corner after hiring former AT&T Wireless CEO Dan Hesse. USA Today ran an interview with him yesterday. While he doesn’t list many specifics outside of changing the corporate culture and reliance on WiMax in the future, he seems confident that he can stop the bleeding.
Hesse’s main focus seems to be on differentiating Sprint from other carrier. It’s not a bad plan - you always want to be disruptive. To differentiate Sprint, they should fix their customer service and capitalize on the Nextel services that so many customers left in late 2006. Devices really don’t matter. Service and pricing matters.
If Hesse can’t do it, maybe Microsoft should buy them.