Have you ever tried to buy a phone at the retail prices? I have. I purchased an 8700 once from AT&T for $450. Then the 8800 came around with an even higher retail price. On top of that Sprint just upped the retail price once again. Their upcoming device the 8330 will retail for $749.99!!!
The crazy part is that after a contract the device price goes down according to Mobile Magazine.
Go for a two-year contact involving a service plan of at least $60 a month and the BlackBerry Curve 8330 can be yours for $179. Choose a plan under $60 and the price goes to $199 for the phone.
The $179 and $199 price point are for new service agreements, it seems, because existing Sprint customers will have to fork up $229.99 for the Curve, assuming that they have already fulfilled an existing two-year contract.
The general argument that carriers make is that they need the contracts to subsidize the phones. There is no way in hell that Sprint can make the argument that they are recovering $550 over a 2 year contract. This is just another way carriers are forcing customers to get tied into their contracts.
The funniest part is that even our friendly Canadian Telus carrier is claiming a $549.99 retail price. Does it cost $200 for Sprint to get their logo on the phone?
CybaCowboy ( View Profile) - Posts: