Microsoft to extend iPad buyback program to iPhones this week, report says

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
Following up on an initiative meant to woo users away from their iPads by offering at least $200 for used examples of the tablet, Microsoft is now said to be preparing an extension of the deal to include used iPhones as well.

Microsoft iPad
Microsoft's iPad trade-in program. | Source: Microsoft


Sources tell Forbes that Microsoft will add used iPhones to the list of Apple products it is willing to buy as part of its "#timetoswitch" campaign. The handsets can be exchanged for a gift card good for at least $200 in the company's retail stores.

Starting this Friday, select Microsoft Stores in the U.S. and Canada will begin handing out a minimum of $200 worth of in-store credit to those who bring in an iPhone 4S or 5. Prices may be higher for devices in especially good condition.

With the iPhone buyback scheme, Microsoft is hoping to gain new Windows Phone users, much like the ongoing iPad trade-ins which are meant to convert consumers to the company's Surface tablets.

In addition to the Apple-focused strategy, Microsoft is also running a wider online campaign that offers Visa gift cards for Apple, Android and Blackberry devices. Unlike the brick-and-mortar trade-ins for the iPad and iPhone, this offer is not restricted to physical retail locations.

Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has flopped compared to market leaders Google and Apple. In comScore's latest MobiLens survey for the three-month period ending in July, Android accounted for 51.8 percent of U.S. smartphone users, while Apple's iPhone took 40.4 percent. Even Blackberry, which was bought out on Monday, held a 4.3 percent share of the market, compared to Microsoft's fourth-place finish with 3 percent.

The Redmond, Wash., company is looking to turn things around, however, and the recent buyback campaigns are part of that drive. Further, Microsoft is delving deeper into the mobile computing hardware industry, as evidenced by the substantial $7.2 billion purchase of Nokia's cellphone business. That deal also included licensing rights to branding, patents and services like the HERE mapping system.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member
    Anyone want to bet on the over under? We'll start at 10- That's the Combination of iPads and iPhones.
  • Reply 2 of 30
    Des-per-ate
  • Reply 3 of 30
    well probably smarter to chase Blackerry installed base...
  • Reply 4 of 30
    In other news, Apple will offer a minimum $5 credit to anyone who trades in a Windows Phone or Surface.
  • Reply 5 of 30
    wooho! some god news. i wonder what they'll give me for my brand-spankity-new unlocked 5s. maybe i can get a zune.
  • Reply 6 of 30

    Surface owners would be better served if Apple offered the deal on Surface trade-ins :) 

  • Reply 7 of 30
    Not a very good deal IMO, since one can sell a used iPhone for more than $200 on e-bay.
    When one also considers that in return you get a Windows phone or Surface, then the deal turns sour.
  • Reply 8 of 30

    Microsoft should invest in buying all of Apple's new iPads & iPhones too! Then we'd all have to buy MS products.

     

    I can't believe Steve B. hasn't already thought of it.    

  • Reply 9 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Harmon View Post



    Des-per-ate

     

    also mo-ro-nic.

  • Reply 10 of 30

    MS should abandon consumer business completely. The obviously haven't got a clue....

  • Reply 11 of 30
    I love the smell of desperation in the morning.
  • Reply 12 of 30

    Apple should charge customers $50 for every Surface tablet that somebody brings in to be disposed of.

  • Reply 13 of 30

    Microsoft has to make the Surface business model work somehow. If they can trade them for iPads and then sell the iPads on ebay for a profit, it's definitely thinking outside of the box.

  • Reply 14 of 30
    Why the hell would anyone trade in a phone to buy a tablet when the tablet cannot make phone calls? That's got to be the stupidest idea I've heard out of M$ in, I don't know, 1 week...
  • Reply 15 of 30
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    I find it disgusting that Microsoft employees have resorted to tactics like this in order to avoid lining up at an Apple store like the rest of us in order to buy their own personal phones and tablets.

    ;)
  • Reply 16 of 30

    Some of you young kids here may not remember, but there was a time when Microsoft was a marketing monster.  I mean they'd do crazy stuff like spend billions of dollars marketing a product ('Kin) that would be the greatest consumer product in history (as measured by dollars lost per units purchased).

     

    Now though it's sad.  It's like they've given up.  I mean, I've got pocket change that would pay for the numbers of people willing to downgrade their iOS devices to Windows devices.

     

    It's like seeing your former boss on skid row begging you for a quarter.

     

    Sad.

  • Reply 17 of 30
    Perhaps MS real motivation, or real result, will be an increase in iPhone, iPad thefts. It certainly,won't make any difference in sales of Windows phones or the Surface laptops.

    Yes, I know that a trade in only gives you a store credit, but druggies and others willing to steal an iPhone/iPad wouldn't know that fencing it won't get them the cash.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    My question is: What are they going to do with all the IOS devices that they naw have? If they sell them, they help Apple gain more market share. If they destroy them, they end up losing even more money. Was not 900m enough of a loss?
  • Reply 19 of 30
    Am I the only one who finds it amusing that Microsoft tries to enter the used Apples business, and by the looks of it is going to fail at that as well?
  • Reply 20 of 30
    This is just sad.
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