T-Mobile subscribers will now enjoy the benefit of pre-ordering Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s iPhone5 before it becomes available in the stores next week.
As listed on T-Mobile’s website, users can preorder all the variants of iPhone5 including the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models in either black or white. The purchase options offered by T-Mobile will be different compared to the offers from Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE:VZ), AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), and Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE:S).
As per the payment plans, buyers will have two choices: they can buy the iPhone5 at a full non-subsidized cost, paying up front; or they can make a small down payment and the rest can be paid in 24 monthly payments of $20 each. In accordance with the carrier’s plan, a 16 GB iPhone will be $99 up front or $579 in total and a 32 GB variant will costs $199 initially or $679 in total.
The 64GB edition of iPhone5 will come around $299 up front or $779 in total. The carrier gives the buyers an option to choose from three different plans offering voice, text, and data ranging from $50 to $70 per month for a single line.
Although the iPhone 5 supports 4G LTE, the company’s 4G LTE capabilities are still in a nascent stage. T-Mobile rolled out its 4G LTE network last month in seven markets across the country. The carrier plans to expand its LTE network to 100 million people by the middle of 2013 and 200 million by the end of the year.
Yesterday, the company announced its first customer growth in four years with the customer base soaring to 579,000 during the first quarter of 2013 to reach 34 million users. Prepaid services experience the bulk of increase, with more than 202,000 new pay-as-you-go customers added during the quarter. However, the company lost 199,000 net postpaid customers, which was 61 percent improvement on the final quarter of 2012 when the carrier lost some 515,000 contract users.
Partnering with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been a good strategy for T-Mobile. CEO and President John Legeregere told earlier this year that T-Mobile USA has 1.9 million iPhone users and every month it is adding about 100000 new iPhone customers.
Despite huge outage from Apple store, just last month only T-Mobile USA announced to carry the iPhone5, but still the carrier is not listed among the US vendors of the phone on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s website.
