NEW YORK - Sprint Nextel Corp., the third-largest cellphone company, will start selling the iPhone in mid-October, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Citing unnamed people, the newspaper said the wireless company will get to sell both the upcoming iPhone 5 and the current model, the iPhone 4. The iPhone 5 will be launched at the same time AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless get it, the newspaper said.
Apple Inc. typically launches a new iPhone model in June or July, but this year’s launch has been delayed. Apple watchers had expected the new phone in September, but speculation has shifted to October.
Sprint has been turning around its ailing operations through improvements in customer care, but its inability to sell the iPhone has hampered its recovery. In the three months ended in June, it lost 101,000 subscribers from contract-based plans, while Verizon and AT&T, already larger, added subscribers.
