Jim Cramer suggests iPhone may come with 18 months service free
When my colleague Scott walked by this morning and told me he heard a rumor via Jim Cramer that AT&T was going to provide 18 months of free cell service to iPhone buyers to encourage switching from Verizon, I'll admit that I didn't take it that seriously. Perhaps I should have had more faith. Now being reported widely, Cramer mentioned on his radio show yesterday that in an AT&T analysts call the company very clearly stated its intent to offer iPhone "customers" the 18-month service credit; it's not clear if this would be ALL customers, or just those with an existing Verizon Wireless account.
There's always the possibility that Cramer is talking out of a non-standard anatomical area, and this could be pure rumor (he's got another story on the AT&T situation here). Laurie has also pointed out to me that Verizon customers are the least likely to switch because of the reasons they became Verizon customers in the first place; coverage, EVDO, corporate standard, and voice quality. Even so, for those paying their own way, a year and a half of free service might sweeten the lure of a shiny new iPhone.
Thanks Scott!
[via Daring Fireball & Ars Technica]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sean Flanagan said 4:16PM on 1-25-2007
I have Verizon right now and I can tell you that I am sick of the dumbing down and/or locking of features. Plus, everything beyond simply placing calls is a costly extra.
I got the chocolate™ because I liked (and still do) the slider form factor and thought it would be a useable alternative to carrying around my iPod. Unfortunately, the thing is so crippled that it doesn't work with OS X in any capacity, and Bluetooth doesn't work to sync contacts (or any information for that matter) no matter what OS it's connected to. I had to purchase the "Music Connection Kit" for a USB cable, install Parallels, XP, the version of WMP10 that came with the kit, transfer all of my songs from my iTunes library in OSX to WMP on XP, FIGURE OUT WMP, set up WMP and the phone to transfer correctly, and finally transfer the files, just to get a whopping 54MB of music to fill up the damn phone. No wonder they don't advertise the capacity. Then I found out that it is impossible to use any music files as ringtones, as Verizon forces you to purchase ringtones directly from them.
And I want an iPhone. Bad.
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Donald Burr said 4:36PM on 1-25-2007
Verizon is notorious for squeezing every last bit of cash out of their subscribers. Supposedly they were going to loosen up the Bluetooth restrictions sometime late last year (I had seen this reported on several news sources), but that never materialized. It just chaps my hide when I purchase an expensive phone where everyone else in the world can enjoy bluetooth, etc. but it is disabled for me. Which is why I dumped Verizon long ago.
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Ben said 4:43PM on 1-25-2007
Hey folks do the math. 18 months of service @ $50/month (conservative) = $900. Cost of iPhone = $700 (again conservative). Difference is $200. In other words after 18 months you would have $200 more dollars if you buy the iPhone then if you didn't. If they gave everyone 18 free months then you would be an idiot not to buy the iPhone because it would be more expensive not to, roughly $200 more expensive. They are not going to give these things away and that is what this is equivalent to, so in other words this is B.S.
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bophojones said 4:44PM on 1-25-2007
I also have verizon now, and as much as i would LOVE to have an iPhone, i'm fairly certain i'll stick witih my MOTO Q. it works well (for a windows mobile) and verizon's coverage, at least in the phoenix area, is second to none. besides, no high speed access and low storage on the iPhone kinda kills it for me, because 600 dollars and 72 gigabytes less isn't worth giving up my 6-ounce 80 gig video 'pod.
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Roger said 4:46PM on 1-25-2007
I've been using Verizon for four years and my New Every 2 contract is up in May. Perfect timing. I'm definitely going to check out the iPhone because I am tired of Verizon locking things down and I especially do not like their fugly GUI being put on phones as of late. You buy a nice phone only to flip it open and see that hideous interface.
Sure, I could get a Krazr and flash it with AllTell's UI and be happy as a clam but really, would I?
Someone suggested that maybe it will be the data connection that would be free for 18 months.
If this rumor pans out, heck yeah I'm jumping on board! Good return on purchase of the phone.
But still, I hesitate. AT&T/Cingular versus Verizon network. Voice dialing on my Moto e815. Hmmm...
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Fox News Reader said 5:09PM on 1-25-2007
Assuming this rumor is true (which the math adds up to too much generosity), I suppose my question would be what would be the contract fulfillment terms?
With Verizon and most carriers, if you take the deal (rebate), you're stuck for 1-2 years.
If you take 18-months of free service, are you commited to 18-months + another 2 years? Not to say I have a problem with commitment, but that's a really long time to be dedicated to a sole provider...
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iJavaJoe said 5:20PM on 1-25-2007
I don't remember the price of the iPhone being $700. Steve announced the price, with a 2 year service contract to be $499 and $599. If the service is free, like Jim Cramer said, (I'm going to hold him to that), then I have $599 burning a hole in my pocket! June won't come to soon...
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Chandler Kent said 5:35PM on 1-25-2007
I actually wrote about this a little while ago and everybody called me crazy. Now this guy comes out and says it and people start believing it. I guess I need some street cred.
Anyway, I think this is feasible and would be a more Apple-like solution. But what do I know?
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Firenze said 5:53PM on 1-25-2007
Hey, one question.
ARE YOU GUYS ON CRACK!!?!?!?
This rumor is obviously false. 18 months of service would be more $ than the iphone. Apple would sell about 100 million of these phones and Verizon would lose billions of dollars
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Firenze said 5:55PM on 1-25-2007
I meant Cingular would lose billions, excuse me.
Again, completely irrational post. A bit of common sense goes a long way.
Free iphones for all!!!
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Pete said 6:34PM on 1-25-2007
Whether or not Cingular would lose money on this depends on the nature of the data package (which is almost certainly not covered by this and which most will want in order to use the iPhone's feature set).
It also depends on the exact deal Apple have with them -- exclusivity could be worth a *lot* with Apple's current popularity (bit of a high risk investment though).
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MattK said 6:45PM on 1-25-2007
My skepticism stems more from the idea that AT&T is *already* goign to steal a whole bunch of Verizon customers just by virtue of having exclusivity on the iPhone. It doesn't seem like the number of additional customers they'd garner would be worth giving that much money away to everyone who buys the thing. Then again, there's really not much growth opportunity left in the wireless market (most people who are ever going to buy a cell phone probably already have) and they could be seeing this as their one opportunity to steal a significant share of Verizon's customers. Ok, never mind... I convinced myself. It's a good idea.
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Chris said 6:59PM on 1-25-2007
I bet it is 18 months worth of free data service. 18 * $20 = $360. That would be feasable.
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Luke Levesque said 9:36PM on 1-25-2007
But, if they do offer this, and at least ONE person signs up, no matter how much money they *lose* they still gained another customer.
Businesses are so concetrated on getting and retaining customers.
If someone has a good experience with their brand new iphone and tell all their friends about how awesome cingular/at&t is, then it's mission accomplished.
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Nathan Sweeney said 10:50PM on 1-25-2007
I too see it as possible for them to offer 18 months of data to go with your iPhone.
I use Verizon Wireless, and I will switch to Cingular simply for the iPhone. Luckily my Verizon contract is up in May, just in time to get ready for iPhone.
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axel said 2:05AM on 1-26-2007
i have cingular in ny and it's ok. if they give the 18 month free is not loosing, is keeping the customer. for them is keaping the customer. in ny there's an offer family plan from sprint 85$ 3500 minutes nights and weekends free and internet unlimited. so if sprint can do this now to keap customers for 2 years before the iphone comes, why cingular can't do it too?
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