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Best Buy offering free mobile hotspots with iPad purchase
Planning to pay Verizon an extra $130 for an iPad + MiFi 2200 bundle? Hold on a sec, because Best Buy's planning to give away hotspots free of charge when you purchase Apple's tablet. This advertisement, obtained by 9to5 Mac, does mention that you'll need to shackle yourself to a carrier for two years to qualify -- unlike Verizon's original arrangement -- but in exchange you get a free Verizon FiveSpot, AT&T MiFi, or perhaps most excitingly, a WiMax-capable Sprint Overdrive. Fine print in the lower-right hand corner suggests that the promo will begin immediately and run through January 2nd. What better way to spend your leftover Hanukkah gelt than on gigabytes of wireless data?
US Cellular makes all phones free on contract from the 17th through next week
Well, this should make the choice between a Messager Touch and a Mesmerize an easy one, right? From December 17th through the 24th, you'll be able to pick up any phone in US Cellular's inventory for free on a new contract -- and what's more, they'll flip you a $100 bill credit if you're buying a smartphone, regardless of whether you're a new customer or an existing one adding a line. Almost makes you want to sign up for, like, 20 lines of service, doesn't it? No? Follow the break for the press release. Update: US Cellular reached out to us to point out that if you're on a Belief Plan and you're already eligible for a phone upgrade, this means you can walk into a store and take any phone you want for free without signing a new contract. How crazy is that?
Best Buy makes iPhone 3GS free on contract tomorrow, December 10th
Only a few days after Radio Shack unveiled the first iPhone sale in recorded history, Best Buy's done one better -- it's offering up the 8GB iPhone 3GS "to qualified customers" without charging a cent for the handset. Yes, that's a free iPhone, not counting the AT&T ball and chain, for the likely-far-less-than-one-day supplies will last, and so we imagine a fair number of you will start queuing up right now to get in on the action. Not a bad way to move surplus inventory and head off perennially rumored CDMA juggernauts at the pass -- promise them the free iPhone, then lock them into those two-year contracts. It's hard to resist! [Thanks, The Crusher]
TiVo Premiere now free on contract for $20 monthly, as TiVo introduces (and enforces) tiered subsidies
Well, it seems we finally know why TiVo was waxing poetic about software in recent months -- it's the way the company primarily plans to charge for its DVR hardware from now on. Following a week-long experiment of free-on-contract DVRs conducted last month, TiVo's opening up subsidized and partially subsidized pricing tiers to the entire US for those willing to chain themselves to a pricier $20 monthly fee. You can now get a TiVo Premiere for $0 on a two-year contract or $100 with a one-year arrangement, or pick up a TiVo Premiere XL for $300 on a one-year deal -- the same price the regular old 45-hour TiVo Premiere cost originally. TiVo's also kept the original $12.95-a-month plans around in case you want to pay full price for your hardware, which would normally make better financial sense after about three years, if not for the fact that there are still lifetime subscriptions available for $400 if you're truly in it for the long haul. We're all for expanding our buying power in this arena, but there's one group of customers who are liable to get mighty pissed at the new arrangement -- the regular Joes and Janes headed to Best Buy right now to pick up a $99 TiVo Premiere "on sale." You see, retailers apparently didn't get the memo about the new tiered pricing and are advertising the arrangement as a $200 discount instead, which leaves TiVo's fine print the unenviable role of explaining that they're going to pony up $20 a month from now on. 2.1.2 When purchasing a TiVo Premiere box from a third party retailer at $99.99 (includes an instant $200 savings off MSRP) for the TiVo Premiere box or $299.99 (includes an instant $200 savings off MSRP) for the TiVo Premiere XL box, you may only subscribe to the TiVo Service on a monthly basis for $19.99 a month with a one (1) year commitment (renews monthly after one year). Choices, choices. [Thanks, Daniel and Chris R.]
Motorola DEXT promised to Orange UK in early October, free on contract
While the US release date is still in question, Motorola CLIQ's brother across the pond DEXT has gotten itself an official an early October window from UK's exclusive carrier Orange. Best of all, it's expected to be free for those who commit to a two-year, £34.26 per month ($56.43) contract. With any luck, Americans with a penchant for Android and physical keyboards will get their own "free on contract and launching in October" deal, but we've still got nothing confirmed.
