Apple iPhone fans are getting a juicy new option for wireless service starting this summer. Sprint’s Virgin Mobile brand said it would give one year of unlimited talk, text, and data for $1 to customers who sign up by July 31 and buy a new iPhone at full price.
The Sprint unit also said it was planning eventually to drop all phones other than Apple’s device, seeking to differentiate itself from Sprint’s other prepaid brand, Boost Mobile, as well as the rest of the increasingly competitive wireless field. The unlimited data plan downgrades streaming video to DVD-quality automatically and is subject to similar limitations as Sprint’s own unlimited plan, which can slow the download rate in congested areas for customers who use more than 23 GB in a month.
The new offering comes as competition continues to heat up in the wireless market, with consumers come out as the big winners. Sprint (S) itself briefly offered a year of free unlimited data service to customers who defected from the other big carriers. AT&T (T) and Verizon (VZ) introduced low-priced unlimited data plans earlier this year, and T-Mobile (TMUS) eliminated extra add-on fees and charges on the unlimited plan it started last summer.
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“It’s not often that a brand has an opportunity to reposition itself and even to change its business model,” Dow Draper, who heads the Virgin Mobile unit at Sprint, tells Coins2Day. “And we;re doing them in a way that we think really disrupts the industry.
Sprint, which has the right to offer mobile service under Richard Branson’s Virgin brand in the United States, is also moving to align more closely with other Virgin companies around the world. New mobile customers will also receive a free round-trip air ticket to the United Kingdom on Virgin Air, a free one-night stay at Virgin Hotels, and other discounts.
“Virgin has always looked to shake things up and challenge the status quo in any sector we get into,” Branson said in a statement.
Preorders for the new offer starts on Thursday at Virgin Mobile’s web site and in Apple’s (AAPL) retail stores, with iPhones being delivered started June 27. At the start, customers will have to purchase a new iPhone 7, 7 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, or SE to qualify. Later, Virgin will also have used iPhones available to qualify for the offer.
After the one-year promotion ends, new customers will still get six months of service for $1 followed by a regular price of $50 per month. Customers can re-qualify for the $1 for six months offer if they buy another full-price iPhone at the end of their promotional period.