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AT&T to offer "Cell Phone Trade-In" towards new phone? (Unconfirmed)

=MuLti-CeLL= said:
Wouldn't you think it would be the other way around though?

The older = less value towards new phone

The newer = more value
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Only if you paid the unsubsidized price for it. If you got the 16GB model for $299 on contract, they will subtract the subsidy from that price and then calculate the worth of your phone.

bigchief said:
Does this mean they are expecting big changes with the new phone or what?
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This isn't just about the iPhone…
 
alphaod said:
So if you trade in an iPhone that's 6 months old, you'll only get like $50.
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Now that I think about it a bit more. You do have a good point. What about the subsidzing and all. Maybe they would somehow incorporate that into the new phone....therefore yours only being worth 50 bucks. :D
 
It might not have anything to do with the iPhone, either. I would think Apple will fight tooth and nail to prevent a situation where iPhone users were not allowed to upgrade to a new model, as pushing users to upgrade more frequently than strictly necessary (or common among users of similar devices) is essentially a cornerstone of Apple's way of making money. Considering that the iPhone does have some status symbol value to some people, and how quickly Apple revamps their products in comparison to the two year contract cycle many carriers use, there's just no way. It would breed a huge amount of resentment if a really interesting new iPhone came out and existing users couldn't upgrade to it.

On the other hand, Apple could negotiate it so their terms are specially favorable -- working iPhones could be worth enough to make the iPhone trade-in worth it, and/or they could get special status so that iPhone traders could get a new iPhone at subsidy price. The tactical advantage to such a situation (and nuisance to me :p ) would be that this would probably significantly crimp the market for unlocked or unlockable iPhones sold used without contract. And while I definitely want to upgrade my iPhone at some point, I'm still not entirely ready to move to AT&T.... So from that standpoint, there could be strategic value in it for Apple.
 
alphaod said:
Only if you paid the unsubsidized price for it. If you got the 16GB model for $299 on contract, they will subtract the subsidy from that price and then calculate the worth of your phone.
Click to expand...

This isn't just about the iPhone
 
It'll only be worth it if Apple makes an iPhone worth upgrading to. I won't even consider it if Apple hasn't implemented MMS, video recording capability, voice dialing and A2DP.
 
mkrishnan said:
It might not have anything to do with the iPhone, either. I would think Apple will fight tooth and nail to prevent a situation where iPhone users were not allowed to upgrade to a new model, as pushing users to upgrade more frequently than strictly necessary (or common among users of similar devices) is essentially a cornerstone of Apple's way of making money. Considering that the iPhone does have some status symbol value to some people, and how quickly Apple revamps their products in comparison to the two year contract cycle many carriers use, there's just no way. It would breed a huge amount of resentment if a really interesting new iPhone came out and existing users couldn't upgrade to it.

On the other hand, Apple could negotiate it so their terms are specially favorable -- working iPhones could be worth enough to make the iPhone trade-in worth it, and/or they could get special status so that iPhone traders could get a new iPhone at subsidy price. The tactical advantage to such a situation (and nuisance to me :p ) would be that this would probably significantly crimp the market for unlocked or unlockable iPhones sold used without contract. And while I definitely want to upgrade my iPhone at some point, I'm still not entirely ready to move to AT&T.... So from that standpoint, there could be strategic value in it for Apple.
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Good point, good point. :D
 
I'm not sure how I feel about this...of course we need to see the official press release with some details first.


But if it lets me trade my 16GB iPhone in for the new one for a low amount, I'll be happy!
 
Anything you trade in, you will get less that if you sold it yourself. This wont save you any money because they will not give you anything near the market value.
 
eplchamps0304 said:
According to the article the max value of a trade in is $200. You would be nutts to trade in your iphone 3g for that price, people pay that much for broken ones. This deal will only benefit ATT and not the consumer.
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You're probably right. But then there will be those that want instant gratification and not care to throw their iPhones on ebay or whatever just to stand-by and wait and hope someone picks thier iPhone up soon.

But I do see your point, why sell back to at&t, which probably wouldn't give you the max 200 bucks anyways, when you can sell it online for twice that much possibly.
 
Has anyone on here actually tried to sell their iPhone 3G on eBay or Craigslist? I know you could get a lot for the initial iPhone, since it is easily unlocked. But, can you really sell a 3G for a lot? Why would someone pay that much when they can buy it new for the same price? I must be missing something...
 
kas23 said:
Has anyone on here actually tried to sell their iPhone 3G on eBay or Craigslist? I know you could get a lot for the initial iPhone, since it is easily unlocked. But, can you really sell a 3G for a lot? Why would someone pay that much when they can buy it new for the same price? I must be missing something...
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Yes people are paying like $450-$500 for the iPhone 3G.
 
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