Sprint Adds Wi-Fi Calling To iPhone, Set To Rollout Sprint/RadioShack Stores Friday

Sprint has announced that select iPhone models in its lineup are being updated to support the carrier’s implementation of Wi-Fi Calling. The feature will be available to the iPhone 5s, 5c, 6, and 6 Plus. Calls made via WiFi will not count against customers’ voice plan minutes, unlike Wi-Fi Calling services from competing carriers. Sprint has also stated traveling customers will be able to make free Wi-Fi calls from more than 200 countries around the world at no additional charge.

In related news, after weeks of legal wrangling, Sprint and Standard General have set tomorrow as the official launch day for the over 1,700 co-branded Sprint/Radio Shack stores that the carrier and creditor have agreed upon to remain open. Sprint has announced that the new arrangement will create 3,600 new jobs with 1,435 stores being open immediately, with remaining stores being built out for the “store-within a-store concept”.

The new aim of the stores is also much less grandiose for the RadioShack brand, as it will focus on battery and accessory sales, a couple of the very few categories that are currently doing well for the moribund brand and it will eliminate other categories such as PCs, tablets and home entertainment.