It’s official: T-Mobile has the iPhone. On Friday, April 12, the magenta-tinged operator will start selling the iPhone 5 nationwide and the iPhone 4 and 4S in select markets. T-Mobile now not only has the iconic device it has so long craved, but it’s offering it with compelling service pricing. Under the new plans unveiled over the weekend you can pay as little as $50 a month for unlimited voice, text and 500 MB of data, and you can use your phone as a hotspot — something most carriers charge you extra for doing on an individual data plan. For $70 a month, you can upgrade that data plan to unlimited, though hotspot usage is limited to 500 MB a month. All of these plans are available without a contract. But T-Mobile is demanding you make a tradeoff. Its cheap rates mean it will no longer subsidize its devices, meaning customers will have to buy their iPhones up front, enroll in a financing plan, or bring an unlocked device to the network.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.