T-Mobile US to allow free iPhone upgrade, adds Apple Music to Music Freedom program
T-Mobile US has targeted Apple iPhone users with what it said is the final move in its latest round of promotions.
First, T-Mobile US is bolstering its recently launched iPhone 6 promotion by letting customers upgrade to Apple’s expected next model iteration for no charge by the end of the year. Customers taking the promotion will be able to lock in the same $15 per month price for the basic iPhone model as well as garner “priority” access to the next iPhone model if they place an order within the first 48 hours of availability when it’s unveiled.
Apple typically rolls out a new iPhone model every year, with the current iPhone 6 having been announced last September.
T-Mobile US last month, as part of an update to its JUMP device-financing program, said that through Sept. 8, customers can pick up an iPhone 6 beginning at $15 per month over an 18-month term. The offer does require customers to either keep the device through the full 18 months before trading it in on a new device or keeping the device, or they can pay off the full remaining balance on the device at any time for a trade-in on a new device.
The updated JUMP program allows customers to upgrade their device up to three times per year on “select” new devices at no additional charge. Customers are required to put their traded-in device through a “three-point check-up to ensure it’s in good working order” before the trade in is accepted.
The per-month device pricing is slightly higher on the new offer as T-Mobile US is trimming the overall term length from 24 months on the original JUMP program to 18 months on the new program. However, T-Mobile US countered that the new JUMP on Demand program is now included in the pricing instead of being an additional $10 per month on the legacy plan. Customers can still purchase a device protection plan for $8 per month, which was included in the $10 per month charge for the legacy JUMP offering.
Adding Apple Music to Music Freedom
T-Mobile US is also adding Apple’s recently launched Apple Music service to its “Music Freedom” program that allows customers to stream music content from a handful of applications without impacting their data allotment. The move is actually more of a replacement as T-Mobile US had previously offered access to iTunes Radio, which is now part of Apple Music.
T-Mobile US CEO John Legere noted Apple Music accounted for 80% of customer requests via Twitter to be added to the carrier’s program. Legere said customers were streaming more than 131 million songs per day using the Music Freedom package.
T-Mobile US launched its Music Freedom promotion last year, including access to a number of streaming music apps like Pandora, Rhapsody, IHeartRadio, Slacker and Spotify. The carrier late last year added more than a dozen applications to the program.
One analyst noted the program could result in customers having free access to several gigabytes of data per month, depending on the quality of the music being streamed.
In addition to the Jump on Demand offer, T-Mobile US this summer launched new multiline rate plans with larger data buckets, and its “Mobile without Borders” offer that provides LTE data roaming across Canada and Mexico for no additional charge on certain plans.
Bored? Why not follow me on Twitter
