Wednesday, May 16, 2012

6AM Update: HTC Gets help from Economics Minister - & Warehouse Info

The sun isn't even up yet, so there's not any new information this early on the status, but there is one HTC update from overnight:


Taiwan Economics Minister offers assistance, if needed, to resolve current customs issues dealing with the Apple patent.



Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang said Thursday his ministry will provide smartphone vendor HTC Corp. with assistance, if necessary, to deal with the ongoing litigation on patent infringement brought against the Taiwanese firm by rival Apple Inc.

Shih told lawmakers at a legislative session that the ministry has kept in close touch with HTC to keep informed of the progress of the particular litigation.

Also, a question from the inbox overnight, asked by about 100 people...


Where is the sprint warehouse?/Do you have any info on the Sprint warehouse?


Those not in the industry may find this odd - but Sprint actually doesn't have a warehouse. At least not in the traditional sense. Our primary 'warehouse' is actually outsourced (as with almost everything in the enterprise) to UPS. It's UPS employees that run the operation, answer the phones, process the return kits, ship out your new phones, and yes they even do the basic phone repairs(Level 1-3). And it's almost entirely automated, in a 500,000 sq/ft space in Louisville, KY. And yes, there is a bonded customs area (foreign trade zone) within the complex as well, for international shipments(hint: think HTC). While I've never been there in person, I was able to find a couple of older articles about it, one of them cited "a highly automated UPS fulfillment system utilizing four pick modules which are three layers high and over 200 feet long.  Capacity is available to handle 65,000 orders a day". I'll try to dig around internally today and see what other info I can find on it, but as it's outsourced, I'm not sure just how munch info we have on the actual day to day operations, other than processes.


*UPDATE* Thanks to a tip from reader Dan - here's a video that gives a rare glimpse into the Sprint warehouse:
http://pressroom.ups.com/Video/UPS+Delivers+for+Sprint



Got a question you want answered? email it to me: inside.sprint.now@gmail.com

11 comments:

  1. So all the folks saying "Sprint lied to me, they said my phone was in the warehouse with my name on it," were not necessarily right. The phone could very well be in the warehouse, just in the bonded customs area awaiting approval. So does that mean that as soon as they clear customs they'll be on trucks (same day)?

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  2. [...] 6AM Update: HTC Gets help from Economics Minister – & Warehouse Info Inside Sprint Now Supposedly the economic minister of Taiwan is offering HTC some help here. [...]

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  3. Let's all hope so! :-D

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  4. yep, trucks or planes, depending on where they're going. the warehouse basically sits at the end of the runway.

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  5. So, what about phones ordered on a third party website (Wirefly, Letstalk, Amazon, etc.). Do those phones get imported by Sprint and sold to each company, or do they import directly from HTC?

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  6. Would it be a bad idea to Call and complain to the US ITC and ask them why they choose to act as a tool of corporatism for apple computers.

    Public Affairs Officer:
    Peg O'Laughlin
    202.205.1819

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  7. Here in Salt Lake City, Utah it seems like we get our phones the next day regardless of the original shipping location. We have a massive UPS warehouse here.

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  8. Son of a...!!! You mean that my 2 phones I ordered are actually sitting less than 5 miles from my house?? Damn.

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  9. http://www.androrev.com/2012/05/17/best-buy-begins-emailing-customers-a-may-23-release-date-for-evo-lte-disaster-averted/

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  10. Yea I worked there for 3 weeks last year....its huge and customs dont play! Security no joke either...you cant even take YOUR own cell phone in there.

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  11. that would explain the lack of pics or 4square check-ins there. I was searching everything trying to find some 'inside' pics of the warehouse.

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