$99 HP TouchPad: Unlocked iPhone 4S Offered for $199 by Sprint?

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Sprint accidentally offered the unlocked off-contract 16 GB version of the iPhone 4S earlier today for the HP TouchPad fire sale price of $199.

This was a promotional mistake, because this iPhone 4S usually retails for $650 without a network agreement.

The deal was posted on Slickdeals.com; however, every order placed, based on the discounted price, was immediately cancelled.

This mistake is just one of many hiccups Sprint has encountered over the iPhone. Customers on the Sprint network have recently complained about slow data connectivity with the iPhone 4S.

Many smartphone users flocked from other networks to Sprint due to rumors over the unlimited data plans for the iPhone 4S upon its Oct. 14 release. Despite these hiccups, Sprint seems confident that most of the issues are minor and will be corrected soon.

“Overall, iPhone performance on the Sprint network is consistent with our expectations and the rest of our high-end portfolio,’ said Sprint in an official statement. “Sprint also did bench marking of Sprint’s iPhone against competitor’s iPhones and the testing showed little to no performance difference.”

Sprint said the carrier is seeing a very low return rate for the device, and the company is closely watching the reports of speed issues.

“We do see opportunities to optimize performance, specifically in high network capacity areas. We see this as typical optimization work and do not have any specific area of concern,” the statement said.

The iPhone 4S is currently available on AT&T, Verizon and Sprint.