I agree there is a difference in how the plans work but in terms of cost to the consumer there is some difference, other than Jump avoids a $20 upgrade fee; the primary difference is with Jump you pay up front for the ability to upgrade and with the EIP 7 plan you pay at the backend. The downside to Jump is if you do not take advantage of it you continue to pay off a phone, increasing the cost to you significantly, whereas with the EIP the 7 still has no monthly payment. I am ignoring the $10/month Jump fee since it includes insurance security plans and you could buy it with the 7 offer as well; you just have to do so with Jump. That also appears to be only for Jump on Demand, not regular Jump. If you don't normally buy that Jump adds $120 per year to the cost of a phone.
When the 8 comes out you can payoff the 7 and get an 8, one difference is it still has residual value that reduces your TOC should you decide not to upgrade to an 8 or if TMobile doesn't offer the same deal on the 8. For example, if you trade in a 6s you are paying $105 up front ($250 trade in value plus $20 fee less $165 bill credit for trade in) and at 12 months when the 8 comes out you pay off the balance of $324.50 for a cost of $429.5 to date. Now your choice is trade in the 7 and get an 8 for "free" which spreads the $449.5 ($429.5 plus $20 to upgrade) over 24 months with a new phone for an effective monthly cost of $19; use Jump in which case you have paid $324 plus your original up front cost, if any, to get on Jump and make another years worth of payments so over 24 months you'd pay at least $648, or use the residual to trade in with Apple and reduce your purchase price.
The real savings come in if you keep the phone 2 years since it will still have residual value to cover the initial trade in value. If you keep the 7 for 2 years its residual would almost match the value of the 6s you traded in, which would mean you essentially got the 7 for around $50; adding the bill credit would result in a net to you of about $110. Your purchase habits greatly impact the value of the deal. Personally, I'd prefer deferring the cost of upgrading until the 8 comes out so I can see if it offers enough additional value to warrant purchasing it; in fact I wasn't planning to get a 7 until I ran the numbers and decided it was a good financial deal even if the 7 didn't offer enough new features, for me, to warrant buying one outright.
It really depends on what you prefer; both plans lock you in since you cannot just turn in the phone and walk away, you still must pay them off.
As for what T-Moblie will do, who knows? I think Jump! will still be offered simply because T-Mobile makes more money off of Jump! then an EIP; the 'free' offer will depend on how bad T-Mobile wants customers and how many people it locked in for 2 years; reducing their churn and thus cost of customer acquisition. I'm guessing they want to move a many people as possible to their One! account as possible, plus sell add-ons such as unlimited HD streaming and hotspot, since for many it will mean paying more per month, even without the add ons, adding to their revenue and making the phone cost to them a wash. For me, since I am already on an unlimited plan there is no change in my monthly payment.
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