Edible Apple

It’s no secret that Sprint has struggled mightily without the iPhone. Over the past few years, consumers have flocked to AT&T in droves, and more recently to Verizon, to get their hands on the iPhone. Sprint, meanwhile, hasn’t yet had a premier smartphone to attract new customers to its own network. Remember the Palm Pre fiasco a few years back?

During Sprint’s most recent quarter, the company reported losses of $847 million. Further, it’s looking to block AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile on the grounds it will have a detrimental affect on competition.

In short, Sprint is in a bind. But the picture isn’t entirely bleak for the company in light of a growing number of rumors suggesting that the nation’s third largest carrier will land the iPhone 5 this October.

Echoing a number of previous reports, Bloomberg is reporting today that Sprint will begin selling the iPhone 5 in mid-October. But to provide a more attractive alternative for interested iPhone 5 purchasers and current owners, Sprint will reportedly offer Apple’s smartphone with unlimited data.

AT&T and Verizon charge for data service on top of voice- service plans. AT&T, which has unlimited voice service for $69.99 a month, offers 200 megabytes of data for $15 a month, 2 gigabytes of data for $25 a month, or 4 gigabytes of data for $45 a month. Verizon’s data plans for the iPhone start at $30 a month for 2 gigabytes and rise to $80 for 10 gigabytes, in addition to unlimited voice service for $69.99 a month.

Unlimited data certainly is an interesting carrot, and coupled with Sprint’s more reliable network (with respect to AT&T at least), it’ll be interesting to see how much the iPhone 5 will help bring Sprint back to profitability.