Apple may have entered new territory with its announcement of its new map app, but Apple will soon enter a new market – the pre-paid phone market. Both Virgin Mobile and Cricket Wireless will sell pre-paid iPhones.
Cricket Versus Virgin Mobile
Cricket Wireless became the first carrier to announce it
will sell the pre-paid iPhone. Starting on June 22, 2012, customers may
purchase the iPhone 4S for $499.99 and the iPhone 4 for $399.99. Its “unlimited
everything plan” will cost $55 a month plus taxes. However, potential customers
should know that Cricket may cap data
usage levels at 1 GB.
Virgin Mobile will sell the iPhone at full retail price, but will offer the cheapest monthly plan. Consumers will have to pay $649 for the iPhone 4S and $549 for the iPhone 4 upfront. Both iPhones will become
available on June 29, 2012 and will use Sprint’s network as Sprint purchased
Virgin Mobile in 2008. While customers may see a higher upfront cost, Virgin Mobile's
plan costs the least amount of money over a two-year period. For $35 a month,
customers will receive: 300 voice minutes, 3,000 texts, which Virgin classifies
as “unlimited,” and 2.5 gigabytes of data per month.
Concluding Thoughts
The entry of the iPhone into the pre-paid market opens up more opportunities for Apple, additional carriers and customers who do not want to go with a traditional phone plan. By opening itself up to more carriers and consumers, Apple strengthens its position in the mobile device and app markets. AT&T may become the biggest loser as it used to be the only carrier to sell the iPhone. The biggest winner could ultimately become Sprint. Sprint has a four-year contract with Apple to sell a certain number of phones. Sales generated from Virgin Mobile will count toward those overall numbers.
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