Leap Wireless began selling the Apple iPhone 5 in September 2012, but the company's Cricket wireless brand has struggled to attract customers to the phone, which is sold for $500 that must be paid up front. The slow sales could lead to a large inventory of unsold smartphones that could cost Leap millions.

Cricket Wireless has announced that it is now selling the HTC Desire C, an entry-level smartphone that offers Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Beats Audio, for the retail price of $179.99.

As part of an effort to streamline its services and encourage customers to use its no-contract monthly plans, Leap-owned Cricket Wireless no longer offers pay as you go daily passes for its prepaid service.

Cricket has announced a new Huawei Boltz 4G LTE modem for use on the company's LTE networks in Las Vegas and Tucson.

Cricket has become the first prepaid carrier to declare that it will offer the Apple iPhone 5. The Leap Wireless subsidiary announced today that beginning September 28, it will begin selling the iPhone 5 in select Cricket markets. The carrier is otherwise very light on details. It has not named which markets will be eligible, how much the iPhone 5 will cost, or if there will be any stipulations in usage. Cricket began selling the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S in June and pairing the device with its $55 unlimited plans. The company is likely to sell the iPhone 5 at full retail price for use with its recent $50 to $70 unlimited plans.

RadioShack has announced that it will use Cricket Wireless as the backbone of a new no-contract wireless service that will promote and sell phones in its chain of stores.

Cricket Wireless has announced that it will offer new monthly rate plans for its feature phone and smartphone customers. The subsidiary of Leap announced today that it will offer new options to get unlimited calling, text, and web services ranging from $35 to $70 per month.

Cricket Wireless will introduce its first HTC Android phone when it begins offering the HTC One V on September 2. HTC and Cricket jointly announced that the unibody design of the HTC One V will try to bring a "premium" experience in an entry-level phone.

Leap Wireless released disappointing financial results for the second quarter of 2012. Leap reported an approximate 289,000 net customer loss, which is significantly higher than the 103,000 customers lost during the same period the previous year. High churn led to customer losses and questions about how Leap will rebound.

Cricket Wireless is expanding its retail presence and will now be offered at over 1,200 Kmarts nationwide. Cricket's prepaid smartphones and feature phones will be available for customers without a long-term contract commitment. Four handsets will be available at Kmart initially: the Samsung Vitality and the ZTE Score smartphones, and the Samsung Chrono and the Huawei Pillar feature phones.