IPHONE EFFECT: Sprint Nextel Corp. has been struggling for years to compete against bigger rivals AT&T and Verizon, but it did well in the first quarter, helped by the iPhone. It gained more phone customers under contract than AT&T did, and possibly more than Verizon, if tablets are left out of the count.
NEXTEL EFFECT: The loss of subscribers from the outdated Nextel network continued, and the cost of running the network continued to weigh on Sprint's results. It's shutting the network down next year.
BOTTOM LINE: Sprint's loss almost doubled to $863 million, while revenue rose 5 percent to $8.73 billion.
