Sprint told employees “do not speculate about Sprint getting the iPhone,” according to Sprintfeed, and even told employees to respond to questions by saying “no comment.”
The Wall Street Journal added to the growing number of iPhone 5 rumors this month with a report stating that Sprint would carry the new iPhone model on release day, and that the phone will ship in mid October. Assuming the report is correct, the deal would make the iPhone officially available on the top three carriers in the U.S.
While Sprint’s internal memo may be an indicator that the carrier is prepping for the iPhone release, it may also simply be an attempt at controlling what employees say and avoiding giving customers false expectations.
Assuming the carrier isn’t really getting the iPhone this fall, letting employees speculate on whether or not a deal is in place could lead to unhappy customers when the launch doesn’t happen. Sprint’s front line employees won’t have early knowledge of Apple’s plans, either, so a “no comment” from them means nothing more than they are following instructions.
For now, Sprint’s internal memo makes for great speculation, but doesn’t confirm that the company does, in fact, have an iPhone 5 deal in place.