Cramer: Cingular to give away 18 months of service with iPhone
Jim Cramer, host of CNBC's "Mad Money, and director of "TheStreet.com," says AT&T is planning to steal away Verizon Wireless subscribers by an enticing offer to go along with the iPhone: Free AT&T Wireless subscription for a year and a half with the purchase of Apple's iPhone.
In essence, this would substantially lower the perceived price of the iPhone, providing a great incentive for early adopters.
I'm in!
http://www.thestreet.com/_mktw/funds.../10334546.html
In essence, this would substantially lower the perceived price of the iPhone, providing a great incentive for early adopters.
I'm in!
http://www.thestreet.com/_mktw/funds.../10334546.html
Comments
"In its call, the company made it very clear that it's going to use Apple's iPhone to get customers from Verizon Wireless by giving away its service for a year and a half to those customers who buy the phone," Cramer explained in his blog posting at TheStreet.com.
The CNBC "Mad Money" host believes the strategy will help the wireless carrier court a flurry of new subscribers while maintaining requests from Apple not to discount the cost of the $499 and $599 mobile devices.
Take our poll: Would 1.5 years of complimentary cell service increase your likelihood of purchasing an iPhone?
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
The only caveat is this: The iPhone would have to be extremely compelling AND Cingular or ATT (horrible name) would make sure they don't jack up the service fees for iPhone users.
Great marketing strategy though!!!
That's literally a steal, and it's the only way I'd consider getting one. Cingular's 2.5G network with bad voice quality isn't worth paying for, but in this case, I wouldn't be paying for it so it's all good.
Could this possibly be true? Does Cingular have some kind of bare bones plan that they might be offering up with substantially lower monthly worth?
Other questions are:
--Does the 18 months count against the two year service plan? That is, is your contract up after the last paid six months?
--If so, will there be anywhere to go with your iPhone at that point, since two years coincides with the term of Apple's exclusive deal with Cingular?
--If the "free" service is just a basic voice plan, how much will (the probably required) data services be?
This looks to be a huge win for Apple, one that abruptly changes the "too expensive for normal folk" narrative, assuming the particulars aren't too horrible. Hope it's for real.
If the data part of the contract is no extra charge above a standard voice plan, then I might consider it.
I just checked their site and they claim to not support my area. Did ATT dump their own wireless network to get Cingular? I thought ATT supported my area.
Substantially lower? At a minimum voice plan of say $40 month for 18 months this would actually mean Cingular would be paying you at least $120 to use the iPhone and their service, and a whopping $220 for the base model.
Could this possibly be true? Does Cingular have some kind of bare bones plan that they might be offering up with substantially lower monthly worth?
Other questions are:
--Does the 18 months count against the two year service plan? That is, is your contract up after the last paid six months?
--If so, will there be anywhere to go with your iPhone at that point, since two years coincides with the term of Apple's exclusive deal with Cingular?
--If the "free" service is just a basic voice plan, how much will (the probably required) data services be?
This looks to be a huge win for Apple, one that abruptly changes the "too expensive for normal folk" narrative, assuming the particulars aren't too horrible. Hope it's for real.
if this is true, i'm guessing that it's 18 months of free unlimited DATA when you sign up for a VOICE plan.
I honestly thing quality-wise Verizon is a better company/service... I'm torn (i want the iphone).
However, there are some disadvantages to the phone that may hold me back or give me pause, at least. One is the lack of bluetooth support. That's kind of a deal killer as my Motorola E815 syncs perfectly with my 2007 Camry's system. It's really an amazing technology that I'm becoming addicted to. I also can sync the same phone with iCal and Address Book over bluetooth. So, I'm losing the Bluetooth feature and gaining full web...sort of. I can already use my E815 as a bluetooth modem, and so whenever I travel.
since this is a rumor, let me add my GUESS:
if this is true, i'm guessing that it's 18 months of free unlimited DATA when you sign up for a VOICE plan.
I agree. Free voice plan for 18 months seem implausible. Heck, if it's free voice plan, I am willing to sign up with Verizon Wireless now and pay the termination fee for Cingular + iPhone. Unlimited data and/or SMS for 18 months makes more sense.
However, there are some disadvantages to the phone that may hold me back or give me pause, at least. One is the lack of bluetooth support.
iPhone has Bluetooth 2.0. Apple has yet to publish the list of profiles, but it does have Blueooth.
i live in central CT and always have perfect reception, plus on ski trips to VT i get perfect reception where Verizon has NONE. it works fine in NYC, boston, coastal Maine, every ski town in CO that i've been to, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. i've had full reception in the middle of nowhere nebraska.
i have NEVER had a problem w/ cingular... just ask people who live near you who have their service - that should tell you all you need to know.
However, there are some disadvantages to the phone that may hold me back or give me pause, at least. One is the lack of bluetooth support. That's kind of a deal killer as my Motorola E815 syncs perfectly with my 2007 Camry's system. It's really an amazing technology that I'm becoming addicted to. I also can sync the same phone with iCal and Address Book over bluetooth. So, I'm losing the Bluetooth feature and gaining full web...sort of. I can already use my E815 as a bluetooth modem, and so whenever I travel.
Please tell me what part of Bluetooth you are losing. Apple's iPhone page says it supports Bluetooth 2.0/EDR. 2.0/EDR is not needed if you just wanted to use a Bluetooth headset.
I'm curious to what Verizon's take is on the iPhone in general? I know there will be cool phones down the line, but I want one with Mac OS X on it... and I can't foresee that happening anytime soon with Verizon...
I honestly thing quality-wise Verizon is a better company/service... I'm torn (i want the iphone).
My guess: The Cingular/AT&T deal is exclusive for two years at most and Apple will eventually roll the the iPhone out to the other GSM carriers and bring out a CDMA iPhone for Verizon.
There's just no reason for Apple to have given Cingular/AT&T exclusivity beyond two years and limit availability to the 20 percent (or whatever) of American mobile users that are on Cingular/AT&T.