Apple Announces New Trade Up With Installments Program (betanews.com)

Mark Wilson writes: Today, Apple launched a new program called Trade Up With Installments, which makes it possible to upgrade to the latest iPhone in a more affordable way. As the name suggests, this is more than a straight trade-in program - upgraders can use the trade-in value of their old handset to reduce on-going monthly costs. This is something that will appeal not only to people with older iPhones who are looking to get their hands on a newer model, but also ex-Android fans. Apple is opening up the program, so Android handsets can be traded in and their value offset against the cost of a new iPhone. Windows Phone handsets are also eligible. Trade Up With Installments is slightly different to the existing iPhone Upgrade Program and trade-in option. After handing over your old handset (be it iOS, Windows Phone or Android powered) for part exchange for a new iPhone, you'll then (assuming you qualify) be extended credit and allowed to pay off the remaining balance over 24 months.

Comments

Drop it first day

[oic0]

Then pay monthly for 2 years for your paper weight...

windows phone maybe

[roc97007]

I could see people trading in Windows Phone for an iPhone. Not because the iPhone is more usable (many Windows Phone users would argue this isn't the case) but because of the iPhone's richer ecosystem and brighter future. But trade in an Android for an iPhone? Maybe carrying a high end Android phone colors my judgement, but I don't see why anyone would want to do that. Heck, just being able to open the phone's internal storage and SD card in a browser without having to funnel everything through iTunes is worth sticking with what I have. Not to mention, the fact that it takes an SD card, supports widgets, supports sideloading, has a user replaceable battery, and all the other usual stuff.

I think a legitimate question would be, what happens with all those traded-in phones every time Apple comes out with some incremental improvement? I would hate to think it just ends up as electronic waste. (I'm not trying to make a point here; I'd really like to know.)

Re:windows phone maybe

[vux984]

I could see people trading in Windows Phone for an iPhone

Carriers have run these plans themselves for years already. The trade in credit for your existing phone is universally laughably bad, and its always better to just keep your old phone in case you lose or break your new one -- so you have a working device you can fall back to.

Or you can flip your old phone on craigslist for double to quintuple what its trade in value is.

I think a legitimate question would be, what happens with all those traded-in phones every time Apple comes out with some incremental improvement?

trade in iphones 5s and newer will be refurbished if in good condition, and used as warranty replacements etc.

Androids and windows phones and older iphones are likely sent away to be recycled. Maybe if we're lucky they get donated to some program to give them 3rd world users, or otherwise disadvantaged people-in-need.

Re:windows phone maybe

[BronsCon]

The trade in credit for your existing phone is universally laughably bad

Unless you subscribe to T-Mobile's JUMP! plan, wherein they pay the remainder of what you owe on the device as a trade-in. The only downside I've seen is that it basically punishes you for not upgrading as soon as you're eligible, but even at that the trade-in value is more than other programs are offering. By the time the phone is paid in full, its trade-in value would be near zero anyway, but then you own it and can sell it if you so choose.

In fact, Apple's new program is almost identical to JUMP! except that JUMP! includes phone insurance and a handful of other services not included in Apple's offering. Ignoring that (and many here will, especially if they would not use those services in the first place, which is fair), they offer the same utility and the same drawbacks, the primary benefit to JUMP! being that you can choose any phone T-Mobile sells.

For me, the primary benefit of JUMP! was that, at $10/mo per phone, it cost $3.98/mo less than insurance for two phones, and it included the insurance! The guaranteed trade-in value, Lookout Mobile Premium ($9.98/mo for two phones) subscription, and Rhapsody ($9.98/mo for two users) subscriptions are just bonuses at that point; and, since I do use those services, that's a savings of $23.94/mo for me. Of course, JUMP! just went up to $12/mo for the phones I have, but I'm fine with that given that the insurance went up to $14.99/mo, increasing my savings on that to $5.98/mo and my overall savings to $25.94/mo.

If I were to leave T-Mobile for an MVNO, assuming I were willing to give up my unlimited data to do so, having to pay for continued use of Lookout and Rhapsody or both phones would put me right about where I am now, bill-wise. I might save a dollar or two per month, but the loss of insurance and trade-in value makes that not worthwhile.

Re:installment plan...

[93 Escort Wagon]

T-Mobile let's you pay off your iPhone - or Android phone, for that matter - over 24 months at 0% interest. I can't imagine Apple is going to match those terms (the article basically has no details other than the program exists).

IF Apple did offer 0% financing, that'd be compelling simply because you'd get an unlocked phone.

Re:Can I Just Hand Over An Organ?

[jeffb (2.718)]

Go for Ting or one of the other MVNOs. $6 per month per device, and pay-as-you-go by separate buckets for voice, text and data. Don't use cellular data? You pay nothing for it. But if you really need to (say) check a weather warning when you're out of WiFi range, the first 100MB in a month will cost you $3. If you go back to zero usage the next month, you get charged zero for data the next month.

Yes, you have to pay for your phone up front. There are several low-end or older-gen smartphones for $120 or less. If you're going to be picky about what's "decent" under a limited budget, well, you get what you pay for -- or, under the traditional pay-over-a-two-year-contract "cheap phone" arrangement, much less than you pay for.

What happened to the paid advertisement?

[wjcofkc]

A very short while ago this was not on the top spot as a new story and was in fact a paid advertisement. It even said "paid post" and was in that brownish orange color. Now it's this. WTF?

Re:What happened to the paid advertisement?

[wjcofkc]

I hate to reply to my self, but when you click on the submitter name "Mark Wilson" he does not exist.

Re:What happened to the paid advertisement?

[whipslash]

We pushed our code live today to remove videos from Slashdot. We are looking at the changes to see if this caused any glitches. We are definitely not converting paid stories into real stories.

Ooooooh

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Must....have....new....shiny...

Clearly I'm out of touch with reality or fashion or consumer desires.

I'm fascinated by how deeply people covet a new gadget like a phone. Is it a status thing, or do they feel some sort of ego-deflation if they aren't carrying the latest phone/tablet/whatever? Is it a fashion thing, or do people feel like a lower caste when they aren't carrying the newest shiny rectangle?

I mean, if you want to, that's great, more power to ya, but it seems a little neurotic to me. It always astounds me that people will wait in line to buy the newest phone.

Couldn't they just wait a day or two? Do they have to buy one on the first day? Do they feel some kind of shame if the store sells out before they can buy one? I mean, yeah, the iPhone is a cool gadget and a great phone, but the attention paid to it (and other gadgets) seems to border on religious fervor.

Okay, okay, I realize I'm an outlier when it comes to this stuff. For me, when I go to buy a gadget like a phone and I find that I really like it, I'm always tempted to go buy another identical one and put it away on a shelf somewhere because I know that when the current one breaks I'll be unable to buy another one just like it. I just want to find something that works and that I like, and use it for as long as possible.

What's with the "upgradeitis" that so many people appear to be infected with?? Is the new phone or whatever really going to be that much better?

Re:Ooooooh

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Oh, and iTunes is terrible.

"Terrible" is really too kind.

iTunes is probably the single worst software abortion I've personally ever dealt with. It's the mother lode of shitty, craptastic UI-design concepts, wrapped in a stinking shell of "how-the-fuck-do-I-do-this?" Doing the simplest goddamn things are an exercise in frustration.

It's hard to believe that a company that makes such impressive hardware churns out such execrable software.

Re:installment plan...

[Kjella]

So instead of a $600 iPhone (that cost a fraction of that to make), I get to pay $1200 over the course of 2 years... what a deal. This is the kind of predatory crap I expect from a loan shark not from... oh wait, nm.

I'm not surprised that Apple is trying to get in on this action as "buy now, pay later" deals are a huge business just like credit cards and once you're hooked... I got a friend of mine who lacks impulse control, maxed loans and maxed credit card debt. But he's a "functional shopoholic" meaning he manages to pay interest every month. And of course complains that he's short on cash, well I'd be too if that much of my paycheck just disappeared on top of my fixed costs. And what it means is that every time he gets a little breathing room he feels he's been frugal for so long the temptation to splurge is so great he ends up right back where he started. It's a negative spiral.

Personally I'm the other way around, if I have some leftover disposable cash I'll make a down payment on my mortgage - no credit card debt - so that next month, I'll have even more disposable cash. That's the positive spiral, once you have a growing surplus it becomes easier and easier not to spend all of it. I realize that most people can't make the huge investments like house and car without loans. But a phone? If I couldn't buy an iPhone outright, I'd just get some cheap-ass Android phone until I could. Because what happens when you bat outside your economic league is it catches up to you, my friend's economy is just getting worse and worse relative to mine. Which of course doesn't help...

Here's how the plan works

[goombah99]

1) you visit the iphone sales man and he offers you a choice of two envelopes which contain a trade in rebate for your phone.

2) he tells you one of the envelopes has a rebate 2 times bigger than the other one.

3) you pick one at random. And before you look inside he says you can switch if you want to.

If you think this though it's clear you should switch. Imagine there's $100 in the envelope. You had a fair choice so with 50-50 odds the other envelop has $50 or $200. The expected value of switching is the weighted odds of the payoff minus the cost of giving up the $100 you have now. That is to say
50%*$50 + 50%*$200 - 100%*$100 = $25

Thus clearly the expected benefit to switching is $25 dollars better than you have now. so you switch.

Now it doesn't really matter what the value in the envelope is. Maybe it wasn't $100. Even so whatever it is, the math says switch cause you gain 25% of whatever is in there. So you don't actually have to look in the envelope to want to switch. It's always a net expected gain to switch.

Now suppose you dind't look but after switching you do look inside and you see the $100. You now do the same math and clearly yyou should switch back for that $25 expected gain.

4) the salesman says sure, you can switch back, but there will be a $24 fee to do that. Even so, it's still a net expected gain of $1. So of course you will pay to switch.

5) you switch, and boo hoo, you see there's a $50 in there. Bad luck. But no worries. The sales man says he has another envelop that has either 25 or $100 in it and for th small fee of 12.50 he will let you try your luck. .....

If you need installments to pay for your phone...

[kervin]

...then strongly consider purchasing a cheaper phone. Maybe go refurb or buy last years model for instance. But don't get sucked into the constant upgrade cycle that marketing leads us to believe is inevitable.

Maybe your definition of 'best' isn't universal.

[Brannon]

If you think about it, that might explain why everyone on Earth doesn't buy exactly the same things you buy and live exactly the same as how you live.