Welcome, iPhone. Goodbye, “new every two” credit. Those appear to be the transitional greetings at Verizon Wireless, which is getting ready for big sales on Apple iPhones — in part by quietly canceling a program that offers a credit for a new phone under a two-year plan.
Next week, the popular “new every two” deal will end. Under that program, existing customers get a credit of $30 to $100 off a new phone after 20 months of a two-year contract have been completed. The credit could also be transferred to another line of the same account. The discount applies to the discounted retail price of the device, and will end as of Jan. 16. Current “new every two” customers can obtain their credit, but won’t be allowed to re-enroll.
Initially Offered
On Tuesday, Verizon confirmed the long-standing rumor that it will offer Apple’s iPhone, beginning in February. AT&T has been the exclusive carrier in the U.S. for the popular smartphone.
When the iPhone deal was announced earlier this week, Verizon initially said that customers could use the “new every two” credit toward an iPhone.
Thus, the end of the “new every two” credit comes just before Verizon’s expected wave of iPhone sales. The iPhone price for customers with a two-year contract is listed as $199 for the 16GB device, and $299 for the 32GB version, essentially equal to AT&T’s offering.
Without the carrier’s subsidy, the 16GB iPhone would cost $599. Carriers commonly subsidize the cost of the devices, and Verizon’s “new every two” credit was an additional price break.
However, the regular subsidy applies to any customer, new or old, while the “new every two” credit required a customer to have been with Verizon for at least 20 months.
‘Design Compromises’
The Verizon iPhone has been adapted for Verizon’s CDMA network. Apple said it has been working on an…