AT&T starting June 1, 2010 will be raising early termination fees for new iPhone and mobile-connected netbook subscribers from the current $175 to $325, the Wall Street Journal reports. The move is certain to outrage consumer advocates and put off potential buyers, and certainly will not help reduce the degree of regulatory scrutiny now being focused on early termination fees and contracts.
Some will speculate the move is designed to limit desertions if Verizon Wireless is able to start selling iPhones in 2012. That doesn't make quite so much sense, since a GSM iPhone won't work on the Verizon network.
Perhaps the more-logical explanation is that a new iPhone model expected to be released in June will provoke a large churn of customers from the older models to the new models.
Nor does the move immediately explain why connected netbooks are seeing the higher charge. A customer able to buy a $199 iPhone is getting a subsidy of about $400, since the retail, non-subsidized price would be $599 without a contract. But the netbook subsidy does not appear to represent that large a subsidy. Perhaps a significantly-better retail plan is coming, or AT&T thinks netbook owners will want to substitute an iPad.
On the other hand, maybe AT&T is simply moving to bring its ETFs more in line with Verizon Wireless ETF fees, which likewise were hiked from $175 to $350 for smartphone devices.
AT&T will pro-rate the new fees, which will fall by $10 for each month that passes in the two-year agreement.
Friday, May 21, 2010
AT&T to Hike Early Termination Fees in June for iPhone, Netbook Contracts
Labels:
att,
contracts,
early termination fees,
iPhone
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Will AI Fuel a Huge "Services into Products" Shift?
As content streaming has disrupted music, is disrupting video and television, so might AI potentially disrupt industry leaders ranging from ...
-
We have all repeatedly seen comparisons of equity value of hyperscale app providers compared to the value of connectivity providers, which s...
-
It really is surprising how often a Pareto distribution--the “80/20 rule--appears in business life, or in life, generally. Basically, the...
-
One recurring issue with forecasts of multi-access edge computing is that it is easier to make predictions about cost than revenue and infra...
No comments:
Post a Comment