Everyone rejoiced as the Verizon iPhone was announced earlier this week, especially Jon Stewart. While there is definitely room for celebration, there are some things that were not announced that will have an impact on current and future Verizon subscribers. Verizon will kill their New Every Two perk and is getting strict on early upgrades.
With the New Every Two perk, a longtime customer with a $100 credit could get the iPhone4 for $99.99 – half off its new-subscriber price of $199.99. When the program ends, new subscribers will no longer be eligible for those discounts. Existing customers will lose the perk when they renew their contracts (unless they renew before Jan. 16—but that date is well before iPhone orders will be taken). And with the end of the early upgrade program, customers who were previously eligible for discounted phones as early as 13 months into a two-year contract will now have to wait 20 months to get a new phone at the promotional new-customer price instead of retail (for the iPhone, that’s currently a difference of $400).
WSJ speculates that Verizon could be the catalyst for sweeping changes in how upgrades work across all carries. Consumers are hungry for the latest and greatest and Verizon, given their size and reputation, could get consumers to accept growing costs “without much of a fight.”
For those who may balk at rising costs at Verizon, there could be yet another iPhone game in tone. As we reported previously, the Verizon iPhone is a non-exclusive deal and uses the same CDMA technology as Sprint and other carriers. Coincidentally, Sprint has sent out invitations for a “splashy press event” in New York on February 7th.
According to the event invite, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse will act as MC. The invite also says that Sprint will show that “the impossible is possible.” Magician David Blaine will be on hand to do some slight of hand. Well see if Sprint can make iPhones disappear from the shelves as successfully at AT&T has.
Fan of David Blaine or not, Sprint customers across the nation will be cheering for him if he makes a Sprint iPhone appear from thin air.