RSSHoliday goodies on the way for mobile-phone buyers
By Angela Gunn | Published November 18, 2008, 10:09 AM
As the shopping season approaches, mobile providers are starting to sweeten the deal for subscribers and new buyers, with late fall and holiday deals are popping up all around.
Alltel subscribers in the market for a new handset this season are getting a little extra in their stockings, as the company announced one-month trial offers for several subscription services. Buyers of new "feature phones" -- LGs, Samsungs or any of several Motorola models -- can pick up a free month of Alltel Navigation or XM Radio Mobile, which otherwise costs $9.99/month and $7.99/month respectively. Those getting a new BlackBerry or HTC smartphone can choose either of Alltel's current GPS navigation services, Alltel Navigation or TeleNav. Both list for $9.99/month.
In the handset department, Alltel's got a version of the Samsung TouchWiz-interface phone, the Delve, which should retail for $250 after the usual contract agreements and rebates. This is of course likely to be Alltel's last holiday season outside the Verizon fold, as acquisition plans roll along.
Over at Sprint Nextel's Digital Lounge, those not using BlackBerrys or Windows-based smartphones can pick up a new ringer free; holiday selections include Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" and the immortal "You're A Mean One, Mr. Grinch." Ringers generally cost $2.50 from that service. (Some Sprint users are still thinking Grinch-like thoughts re CEO Dan Hesse's recent statements that Google's Android phone isn't yet good enough for Sprint users.)
The phone of the moment is the slider-style HTC Touch Pro, which sells for $299 after various rebates and contract adjustments. The Samsung Rant is Sprint's first sub-$50 3G offering, and the $99.99 Samsung Highnote sports a scroll wheel and stereo speakers.
Even services not yet announcing holiday specials are rolling out phones. Verizon's pushing the new BlackBerry Storm hard for the holidays; its current rebate offer subtracts $50 from its usual $249.99 price as long as you sign up for the two-year contract. That phone goes on sale in America on November 21.
Verizon's also got two Samsung world phones on tap: the BlackBerry-looking Saga ($200 under the usual circumstances) and the clamshell Renown ($180, the usual). Both of those phones debut December 1. Verizon has moreover announced two additional LG phones (the VX10000 Voyager, a touchscreen unit, and the VX8800 Venus dual-screen slider), the updated Pearl 2 from RIM, and the frankly odd-looking Samsung u470 Juke, which hearkens back to the switchblade-style "spinning" form factor seen here and there a few years ago.
T-Mobile is widely expected to have the hot hand this season with the Google "Android" phone in tow; it will also be offering the Samsung Gravity, with its slide-out QWERTY keyboard, for a relatively inexpensive $50 after rebates with a new contract, and the touchscreen-based, world-friendly Samsung Behold $149.99 (in espresso or rose).
The Samsung TouchWiz interface, as seen on the Eternity model, also rolls out in AT&T's lineup. The Eternity is another world phone and will cost $150 after the usual rebates and agreements.
The company also introduced four messaging-centric phones -- the Pantech Matrix, the Samsung Propel, the Pantech Slate, and the house-branded Quickfire -- which retail for between $50 and $100. AT&T is also offering a free one-month service trial for the holidays, with a free glimpse of its AT&T Mobile TV program available to new subscribers through the end of the year.
I am in Sprint's communications group, and here's a couple of other thoughts on holiday "deals: -- first, in this economic environment, customers are going to be looking for savings on more than just a great handset, but also the plan, too. Sprint is offering the most economic package among the national competitors with our $99 "Simply Everything" plan or our family data plans -- using one of these plans means hundreds of dollars a year of savings. And second, about Dan Hesse's remark on the Android phone -- I was in the room when he said that, and I think Dan was really talking about making sure that all the unique data-related features that we offer customers today will be fully integrated with an Android phone before we'd offer one. Sprint is a partner with Google and a very strong supporter of the Android community as a charter member of the Open Handset Alliance. But we would want to make sure that any phone would offer the best of Android and the best of Sprint.
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