According to a report from The Atlanta Business Chronicle, “Some customers who bought Apple Inc.’s iPhone at AT&T Inc. stores may be able to exchange the handset for the faster, less expensive new model and get a rebate.”
“San Antonio, Texas-based AT&T, the exclusive U.S. provider of iPhone service, said clients will get a refund for the price difference,” The Atlanta Business Chronicle reports.
MacDailyNews Note: That’s all the excruciatingly brief report says. We’re checking into the details…
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jimbo” for the heads up.]
Probably just refers to those who purchased in the last couple of months. Makes little economic sense otherwise from AT&T;’s perspective.
Why would an existing iPhone owner do that when the gen1 phones are now the only ones that can be used on other networks. Suddenly their value goes up.
or does it make sense? they’ll probably make them sign a new 2-yr agreement, at $10 more per month.
I believe this applies to those who bought one in the last couple of weeks.
I saw a post on another site regarding this but it had to be bought after a certain date. I believe it was in May.
New iPhones would also cost you an extra $10.00 a month
The economic sense from AT&T;’s perspective is this: You get the new iPhone and your data plan goes up $10 per month. For a 2 year contract, they make $240 off of you, which easily covers the rebate they give you.
What I saw was that AT&T;is offering this to those who purchased their iPhone on or after May 27. Of course, there can’t be many of those people as the supply line dried up a couple of weeks prior.
I’m guessing those upgraded iPhones come with upgraded monthly rates. Makes perfect sense for AT&T;.
“Why would an existing iPhone owner do that when the gen1 phones are now the only ones that can be used on other networks(?)”
Good point but it seems like there’s a strong incentive for AT&T to offer an upgrade rebate or trade-in and continue the lock-in of the 1st gen. user rather than lose an iPhone sold in the wild to a potential network wanderer.
“Good point but it seems like there’s a strong incentive for AT&T;to offer an upgrade rebate or trade-in and continue the lock-in of the 1st gen. user rather than lose an iPhone sold in the wild to a potential network wanderer.”
Yeah thats ATTs incentive, but the end user who has an iphone and wants to sell for use on a different network suddenly has something of value. The previous owner takes the money, gets a new better phone in the process.
Macromancer: I understand and agree. It will be interesting to see how many people figure that out. Sales of 1st gen. phones to countries (e.g., Russia) that are still out of the plan might be excellent opportunities.
Of course, my point is moot if there is no trade-in plan for all 1st gen. buyers.
P.S. There’s another group including me that will hold on to their 1st gen. iPhone and not upgrade any time soon.
I guess only those who are living where the bandwidth and/or the 3G is efficient will be concerned by such a deal.
People who bought after May 23rd can trade in and get this rebate.
I think the idea of first gen. iPhones being worth more is interesting, but these aren’t the only phones that can be unlocked and sold. Remember that in countries like France and Germany, people can still buy unlocked phones because phones can’t be tied to a carrier. In any case, it will be interesting to see what the value of first gen. iPhones ends up being – I hadn’t thought of them possibly being worth more.
“Makes little economic sense otherwise from AT&T;’s perspective.”
I’d disagree with you on this one. Giving a rebate would make a lot of sense for ATT
(1) Extends the timing of a contract by another two years. With the plans that start at $75, that would bring additional $900 in revenue or $180 in profit per customer if we assume the 20% margin (not uncommon for telecom industry). Only looking at the incremental one year here (contracts for old iPhones still have at least a year to go)
(2) Changes the nature of the contract – under old terms ATT had to pay % of their monthly revenue to Apple. Not anymore. $10 a month. This would save ATT $120 (one year remaining from the original two year contract)
(3) Additional revenue from 3G fee increase – $240 for two years.
All in all, subsidy would bring $540 in additional profit. Not bad.
why is everyone still crying over an extra $10 a month? If you make that little to complain you must be working at a grocery store asking paper or plastic or at some drive through asking if you’d like an apple pie with that??
I dunno… thinking about unlocking my 1G iPhone, selling it, and then getting the iPhone 3G. I hope it’ll come out roughly even – maybe the upgrade will end up costing me nothing (well… other than the higher monthly fees)
I doubt this will apply to Zero Day purchasers like myself, but some sort of discount or tradein would be nice. Not holding my breath though, and certainly would not affect my purchase decision…
I hate to say it, I know a lot of you will laugh at me, but I have a really hard time parting with Gen 1 of any of my Apple products….I still have a 128 Mac, Newton and gen 1 iPod…I know I know…I need help…but a few years ago I saw THE FREAKING BOX the 128 Mac came in go for over $500 on Ebay….that is just too crazy…
@jtc
why is everyone still crying over an extra $10 a month?
Could it be because the new “Half the price” iPhone advertising is adressing the paper or plastic demographic? Who, thanks to their long career at the counter, can calculate the total price with apple pie or two year contract and all. If the total price is higher than before, these unfortunate grocery store and drive-through workers consider “Half the price” somewhat misleading. Silly and uneducated of them, I admit.
I got mine on April 17. That means we can count on rebate eligibility to start on April 18.
@Macromancer:
Maybe some people don’t care what network they’re on or have no problem with AT&T;. Perhaps they hate Verizon or Sprint.
More info of this possible “upgrade” at
http://www.appleiphoneschool.com/2008/06/10/iphone-3g-requires-2-year-contract-in-store-activation/
After you purchase an iPhone 2 and switch AT&T;subscription to that device, will the iPhone 1 definitely continue to function at least as an iPod etc?