Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhone is coming to T-Mobile. According to the company’s chief executive officer, John Legere (speaking to Reuters), the popular smartphone will make its way to his company this spring. And that’s not all, T-Mobile also plans to offer no contract unlimited 4G, HD voice calls, and the elimination of smartphone subsidies.
The iPhone should prove to be a boon for T-Mobile as the company has been losing a lot of subscribers over the last few years. By offering tech consumers the smartphone devices they want, T-Mobile could seriously garner more interest. Legere predicts their market shares will rise by at least five percent.
In another comment, Legere added that T-Mobile already supports 1.9 million iPhones on their network and they get about 100,000 new iPhones activated per month.
T-Mobile’s plans to drop phone subsidies, this may also be another smart move for the company. According to Forbes, this month T-Mobile will allow consumers to sign up for a contract-free plan with unlimited data, voice, and texting for $70. Naturally as the monthly plan goes down, the phone prices go up, so users can expect to pay full price for the actual phone. This concept is really nothing new as Virgin Mobile and Cricket Communications already have similar plans and both companies offer older models of the iPhone for a premium price.
If T-Mobile’s plan proves to be successful, it may just change the current smartphone market which relies on subsidies. People who want the latest phone can easily sign up for a two-year contract that lets them pay off the full price of their phone over time. Unfortunately, many consumers don’t like to be tied to lengthy contracts that require them to pay a hefty price every month for a service they may or may not use. Moreover, some customers end up paying a lot of money in overage charges. T-Mobile’s new plan may be just what consumers need.
