“In case you missed it, the iPhone Upgrade Program is Apple’s own implementation of installment billing for phones,” Jan Dawson writes for Tech.pinions. “In this piece, I wrote the installment billing plans carriers were beginning to introduce could end up coming back to bite them. The reason? Customers no longer needed the carriers to subsidize phones and were, in fact, being trained to pay for their own devices in installments. Apple, Samsung, and potentially other device vendors might eventually introduce their own similar plans and that could be bad for carriers.”
“Fast forward to this week and, sure enough, Apple has finally done what I first said it should do a year and a half ago,” Dawson writes. “So why is this a big deal? Well, the reasons are fairly simple: it allows Apple to take over the primary relationship with the customer, relegating the carrier to a secondary role in relation to their device purchase.”
“The other interesting thing about the iPhone Upgrade Plan is that, even though it’s starting out as a US offer, it will spread to other markets over time, including some where carriers don’t subsidize devices and where the iPhone therefore suffers from its premium pricing,” Dawson writes. “In some of these markets, Apple’s leasing plan will give the iPhone a significant boost versus historical performance and market share.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anything that’s a win-win for Apple and lose-lose for carriers if a Very Good Thing™.
SEE ALSO:
Apple takes aim at the carriers with annual iPhone Upgrade Program – September 10, 2015
How Apple’s annual iPhone Upgrade Program works and how much it costs – September 9, 2015