This is kind of ****ty on Sprint's part. "Hey, pre order this phone buy purchasing a $50 gift card! We don't know, or won't tell you, if there is going to be premier early access so pre-order now!" Now if the early access is available, we're all stuck with $50 gift cards that we can only use on accessories, which I personally don't want. Ugh...
Yep, I saw this one coming all the way.
Sprint earn a bunch of money investing your $50 and then even if you want it back, they still earned from it. I believe they've intentionally held off telling people that the regular early purchase will happen purely so that they get some money up front. I'll keep my $50 in my pocket and order the phone when they open up the premier status offer.