T-Mobile announces iPhone trade-in plan to woo current owners from competing carriers
Ahead of debuting the iPhone 5 on its network later this week, T-Mobile on Tuesday announced the start of a trade-in program that offers current iPhone owners a chance to grab the latest Apple handset at no upfront cost and a $120 credit to put toward the "un-carrier's" monthly device fee.
The announcement comes less than a week after T-Mobile started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 5 ahead of the device's official launch date this Friday.
As noted by The Wall Street Journal, outside of the special offer, T-Mobile will be selling the 16GB iPhone 5 for $100, with a $20-per month charge spread over the next two years covering the remaining device cost. As part of its "un-carrier" campaign, the carrier is doing away with device subsidies in exchange for lower monthly fees.
"Our message to iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 customers is simple: bring in your device and trade up to iPhone 5 on T-Mobile," said T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert in a prepared statement. "We're making it incredibly attractive to buy an iPhone 5 by pairing an un-beatable upfront price and trade-in offer with Simple Choice, the most hassle-free and affordable rate plan in wireless."
The carrier will rollout the handset on April 12, while the trade-in program is will expire on June 16.
The announcement comes less than a week after T-Mobile started accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 5 ahead of the device's official launch date this Friday.
As noted by The Wall Street Journal, outside of the special offer, T-Mobile will be selling the 16GB iPhone 5 for $100, with a $20-per month charge spread over the next two years covering the remaining device cost. As part of its "un-carrier" campaign, the carrier is doing away with device subsidies in exchange for lower monthly fees.
"Our message to iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 customers is simple: bring in your device and trade up to iPhone 5 on T-Mobile," said T-Mobile marketing chief Mike Sievert in a prepared statement. "We're making it incredibly attractive to buy an iPhone 5 by pairing an un-beatable upfront price and trade-in offer with Simple Choice, the most hassle-free and affordable rate plan in wireless."
The carrier will rollout the handset on April 12, while the trade-in program is will expire on June 16.
Comments
I wonder what they will do with all the iPhone 4s?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ascii
I wonder what they will do with all the iPhone 4s?
Probably resell it just as I would do.
Anyone know if TMobile offers visual voice mail? I am actually thinking about picking up my 5 iPhones and switching over as the contracts expire.
Yes it does. Apple just released a carrier update for it this week.
Who makes these type of marketing decision at T-mobile? These phones are selling for way above the value on eBay. They just have no clue.
They have to resell them for a profit, do they not?
So what?
In most cases, you can get more money for selling your car via private sale than trading it in - yet a lot of people trade it in. Customer gets convenience, dealer makes a profit on the trade in (which they then sell for typically more than the private sale price would have been).
Same thing here. There's nothing to stop you from selling your phone on eBay or any of the used phone buying services, but not everyone wants to go that route. There are many millions of people who have never sold anything on eBay - and have no plans to. This service offers those people a chance to get some money for their old phones and T-mobile to make additional profit. If you don't like it, no one is forcing you to use it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TBell
Yes it does. Apple just released a carrier update for it this week.
Don't install the carrier update if you want to tether.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OriginalMacRat
Don't install the carrier update if you want to tether.
If you select one of the new plans, tethering is included. It's a non-issue for those people.
As of the software update this week yes
Regarding this swap in, it makes total sense given that the previous hardware doesn't have the chip on for 3G on the old spectrums. So folks will be on T-mobile and dropping to edge. Only the iPhone 5 is being tweaked for this. So take all those other phones and get them swapped and not have to deal with complaints, especially from iPhone 5 owners, with the older versions.
And before anyone says just take it to Apple for a warranty swap, that's not likely to work since the iPhone 5 you bought before the 12th wasn't spec'd to work in t-mobile 3G so the lack of service isn't a defect (and they are really tightening up on swapping for every little complaint that isn't hardware)
Roll them over to the company that does those refurb insurance swaps. That group is 3rd party and probably works with all the carriers and this could be how they get most of their stock.