The end of the free cell phone?
Carriers are releasing new phones for their upgraded networks. But instead of using heavy phone subsidies to lure new customers, the phones are targeted at veteran users who are willing to pay more for feature packed phones. This strategy make sense for now as the new networks are best suited to early adopters willing to pay for them. But in the long term, until carriers do a better job of marketing and packaging the advantages of the new networks, most users will probably just want the least expensive phone available that is good at making voice calls.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
