Walmart and Straight Talk Wireless, America’s largest and top rated no-contract cell phone provider, today put the power back in the hands of customers with an industry game changing offer. Starting on January 11, 2013 in more than 2,000 Walmart stores and online at Walmart.com, customers now have access to the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4 on Straight Talk’s $45 no contract unlimited talk, text and data plan. To make this offer even more affordable, Walmart will be offering customers who purchase the phone in the store, a no interest fixed-monthly payments special financing offer for only $25 a month with a Walmart Credit Card.
The Straight Talk wireless no contract plan, exclusive to Walmart, saves consumers on average $950 a year when they switch from conventional contract plans with similar unlimited plans.
“We are thrilled to be bringing the remarkable iPhone 5 to customers looking for one of the most advanced smartphones with one of the most affordable No Contract plans ever,” said F.J. Pollak, CEO and President, TracFone Wireless, in the press release. “The advanced iPhone 5 with our unlimited $45 monthly plan and Walmart’s $25 special financing offer is a marriage made in heaven – making it the most affordable premium smartphone offer in America. With this exclusive offer the last reason for not purchasing the No Contract Straight Talk plan is gone.”
“We believe customers shouldn’t have to choose between saving money and having the latest technology,” said Seong Ohm, senior vice president of Entertainment for Walmart U.S., in the release. “Now customers can have the coveted iPhone with unlimited talk, text and data without a contract for $70 a month thanks to our exclusive Straight Talk plan and industry first financing offer.”
The Apple iPhones for Straight Talk will be available for purchase at the following prices:
• iPhone 5 will be available in black and white for $649 for the 16GB model only
• iPhone 4 will be available in black and white for $449 for the 8GB model only
Walmart will offer a special financing on the purchase of the phone for $25 a month with a Walmart Credit Card on these select models. GE Capital Retail Bank is the issuer of the Walmart Credit Cards.
Pricing for the Straight Talk no-contract plans include:
• $45 – No Contract Monthly Plan with Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text, and Data.
• $60 – No Contract Monthly Plan with Unlimited Nationwide Talk, Text, and Data PLUS Unlimited International Calling to more than 1,000 destinations in Mexico, Canada, India, and in other countries.
For more information see: www.straighttalk.com and www.walmart.com/iphone
Source: Walmart
MacDailyNews Take: Welcome to the real iPhone, would’ve-been Android settlers.
apple has sold unlocked iphones for a long time now
But it has been hard to find networks to use them with.
Tim Cook is expanding and taking Apple’s ubiquity and distribution model where no man has gone before – worldwide mass distribution. This is his expertise.. coupled with Apple’s DNA it will be monumental.
The empire expands to that make it’s new corporate spaceship offices worthy…
Apple’s stock usually takes a hit after their earnings call, but I think this time it’s going to skyrocket once they release their Christmas quarter numbers.
Do you think Apple’s CEO participated or had anything to do in this move/offer by Walmart/TracFone Wireless??
You betcha!
The circle is now complete.
Well folks, you asked for it and now you have it. A no contract, everything, and an unlocked phone too.
Any comments on the deal??
Yes, one more thing. “CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?” … want to leave AT&T, but, shucks, no coverage.
ATT will unlock your old phone for the asking ( insist) then get a straighttalk plan.
@breeze
thanks, will do.
@everyone
thanks for explaining the licensing with AT&T, data throughput and finance speculation. we don’t have many cell towers on the mountainous island where I live, so the idea of straight talk using existing AT&T towers works in my case.
Depends on the actual quality of the service. There are reports that Straight Talk actually has data caps they just don’t tell you about. You find out the day your phone can’t connect anymore.
Will they have the full-up iPhone functionality? Visual voice mail, iMessage and FaceTime over cellular come to mind. Can you use your iPhone as a HotSpot?
If my concerns are unfounded, this is a game changer. But Carlos Slim is mostly known for making Carlos Slim rich. Customer service isn’t usually in the same sentence.
He’s a Mexican Monopoly
no visual voicemail. Don’t know about FaceTime and don’t know why iMessage would be blocked but it’s possible. Virgin Mobile doesn’t have VVM but supposedly supports FaceTime and iMessage according to their web page.
Coverage looks pretty good as long as you aren’t in parts of California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho…
Isn’t Apple’s visual voicemail an issue ?
Pardon my ignorance, but how does Straight Talk work? Do they license the networks from AT&T and Verizon? Or have their own?
And how fast (or slow) is their data?
they license AT&T’s network but not LTE
you buy a phone for the full $649 price, put in their sim card and use it. no contract, pay per month. $45 per month of $42 if you prepay for the year
its like europe and other parts of the world where most people don’t have phone contracts
iPhone 5 @ $649 financed 0%, takes 25.96 months to pay off.
Walmart gets a credit card customer for 2 years and one month, guaranteed. (terms not withstanding) maybe they pay it off early.
Straight Talk gets a customer, possibly for the same time period.
$70 times 26 months is $1820…
It all sounds the same. However the customer has the option to not follow through with Straight Talk, though I think they do not have the option to not pay for the phone. Until we see the phone pay off terms, we really don’t know.
I mean, if you buy the phone you want to use it, right? Otherwise you buy a iPod.
For me, this is not a low income option. But with cable rates these days, maybe what’s low income and essential has changed.
Why does Apple need to offer a “low income” iPhone plan? Or any carrier, for that matter? No one has a right to an iPhone or a low cost smartphone plan.
“Low income” was code in this case. It stands for consumers who don’t enjoy being ripped off by regulatory monopolists and would like to see some market driven options. There are those who like paying too much for something, because they can and others can’t. I heard a quote from one recently “Where’s the VIP entrance? We are VIP, this line is not for us.”
Good design and good value are not the exclusive territory of the wealthy.
A “right”? WTF are you talking about?
Also if you can read this plan is not offered by Apple. They are only selling Wal-Mart the phone.
Can you just use your existing iPhone if u have one and switch over?
yes, i’ve heard you don’t even need to have AT&T unlock it. just change the APN file
This might be sleeper news with big repercussions in the industry moving forward.
I don’t think so. Americans are very much in love with their free/inexpensive (read: low out of pocket money) smartphones, the iPhone included.
Your “Americans” in just a percentage of the whole… I know quite a few friends on pay-as-you-go plans who finally have an option to get an iPhone because of this.
I think T-Mobile will follow this model. It looks like a very appealing model.
No 64 GB.
Can you FaceTime over cellular on this plan?
Virgin Mobile has a great deal for the 16GB 4S.
$450 for the phone, $40 per month with 1200 minutes and unlimited data-text.
Virgin Mobile is owned by Sprint.
Wake up AT&T!
So the catch is this doesn’t include LTE? If so, no thanks.
Yeahs crazy. Plus I have heard ALOT of complaints about Straight Talk. I paid full price for my iPhone 5 on Verizon and I have unlimited LTE. I’m paying $75 a month for that with my work discount.
Imagine that! You simply buy a phone either with cash or finance it, and then you pay for service from the carrier of your choice. Amazing! Why didn’t somebody think of that before?
All sarcasm aside, this is the way phones should have been sold from the beginning. Welcome to the real world. Screw you, AT&T and Verizon!
They were sold that way, for a while. My first cell phone was a Sony that I paid cash for at a Sams Club (they had a 6 foot high stack of them, in boxes). It was a pretty nice bar phone, with a case and car and home chargers. Worked like a champ for several years.
The phones were configured for Sprint (the Balkanization of American cellular providers was much worse in the late ’90s). You went home, contacted Sprint with the phone (if I remember rightly), set up your number and account and off you went. No contract required, you could change the minutes at any time. Overages were fierce, but you could control it.
But, that was before cell phones for every member of the family and data, etc, etc, etc. Times are a-changin’.
This is the diomino that will change the horrid old-model, squeeze the blood from the customer big phone monsters.
I cannot believe it is Walmart behind it.
Why not? Wal-Mart has no interest in the cell phone companies but they do have an interest in selling expensive phones and I’m sure they get a cut of the plan.
Compared to a 2-year contract, assuming you bought the phone at full price, your total outlay averages $72 / month. If you keep your phone for 3 years, it works out to $63 / month.
This is a great way to get switchers who have an iPhone 4S.