In UK, Consumers Are Now More Aware That They Can Ditch Their Phone Bundles, And Are Increasingly Doing So (theregister.co.uk)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Consumers are now more aware that they can buy the phone and the network access separately, and are increasingly doing so. "Many were totally unaware of the true value of the plan, and this marks a real change," CCS Insight analyst Kester Mann told us. CCS Insight calls the unbundling "cracking the code." Only 36 per cent of UK SIM-only customers expect to take a traditional bundle-plus-phone deal when their current plan ends, CCS found. Mann noted that this figure is considerably higher than the number of SIM-only customers today, who will upgrade to another SIM-only deal -- indicating strong growth for the SIM-only bit of the market. One in 12 phones in use is a second-hand phone.

And there are a variety of fascinating knock-on effects. For example, almost 10 per cent of UK punters now buy direct through Amazon. Operators, who have traditionally acted as credit companies, will have to make their bundles more flexible and attractive. High-margin manufacturers may have to make more use of the refurbished channel, or make older models available for longer. In fact, all OEMs have to look at refurb and online. Mann told us all of these trends are happening already.

Comments

Apple

[registrations_suck]

Remarkably, Apple's history of premium pricing may count against it. 41 per cent of customers surveyed agreed (ticking somewhat or completely) with the statement that they would never buy an iPhone, compared to 15 per cent who responded the same way for Samsung.

I found that interesting...considering I bought my first iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract in 2012, sim-free. I've bought my wife's the same way. I bought my next iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract. I bought my wife's the same way. I'll buy my next iPhone direct through Apple, with no contract. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

I bought our phones up front, full price, no contract, even though I could have gotten them "for free" with a contract, NOT because I wanted to upgrade whenever I want - I use my phone until it breaks, gets dunked in water, dropped one too many times, etc., but because I don't want to be tied to any specific carrier. Now, as it turns out, we have been with Verizon this whole time - but we pay less than we would have with a contract, even considering the cost of the phone.

It's interesting how peoples' motivations vary.

I haven't bought a bundle phone since the '90s.

[aussersterne]

The value just isn't there. Instead, I have always bought phones one or two years behind the retail cycle, when they start to come off contract and be unlocked. You can have last year's flagship, which is usually still pretty damned good, for pennies on the dollar—under $200 for the phone with just a year of use on it, then a SIM (or before that, phoning in the numbers from the beneath the battery to the carrier) plan for cheap.

Carriers like TPO and Net10 in the US offer plans with a few gigs of data and unlimited everything else for just $25-$35 a month right now. Extra gigs run $10 a gig or so, refillable anytime, and I rarely end up using it.

I would not like to be locked into a contract, nor would I like to be limited in when I can upgrade or replace if something goes wrong.

Of course, this doesn't work so well with Apple phones, which hold their value too well. Which is one of the many reasons I don't use iOS. (The other being because I really don't like the OS experience at all, though I do like some of the apps better than the Android equivalents—but not $1k for a phone better).