According to the report, Sprint, in partnership with start-up company Unlockd, created an app called “Boost Dealz” for Android. The app looks to turn your homescreen into an advertisement, which you can tap for more information on the product being showcased. If you want the ad to go away, you can press either the “Like” or “Dislike” buttons that will be presented alongside it.
It’s unknown whether ads will be presented every time you unlock your smartphone, though odds are that they will be presented frequently. If the ads get too annoying for your taste, you can delete the Boost Dealz app. Doing so means you’ll miss out on the $5 discount for your Boost Mobile bill, however.
According to Sprint’s director of prepaid product marketing, Doug Smith, the Boost Dealz app is a way for the company to see how kicking off a new revenue stream would fly with its customers.
“We thought it was a very low-risk way to understand how this type of value proposition would go over with our customers,” said Smith. “Who knows where this could go? We thought it was important to start understanding consumer behavior and the economics behind it.”
In addition to the $5 monthly discount for Boost Mobile customers, Sprint left open the possibility of offering a similar program to Sprint customers, as well as an increase in the monthly discount.
This isn’t the first time carriers have used the power of advertisements to try and offer their customers deals. AT&T, for example, has Data Perks, which gives its customers additional data if they agree to complete surveys and shopping offers. Verizon, meanwhile, recently kicked off FreeBee Data, which lets businesses choose free actions for customers, such as video and audio streaming.
