T-Mobile should offer the BlackBerry Pearl flip on prepaid. It seems like a good idea, since it can help both T-Mobile and Research In Motion target a younger demographic. According to Boy Genius Report, that might becoming a reality. Not just with T-Mobile and the Pearl, though. It appears that the company is planning to launch a fairly aggressive prepaid campaign in 2009. They’ll try to target prepaid users with arguments similar to our reasons for choosing prepaid cellular.
Why do you think Sidekicks got so popular? Because every single person in the hood could get one, every one who didn’t have perfect credit could get one, and even people that just wanted that flexibility could get one. We have a feeling this is going to be RIM’s power play for 2009.They go on to speculate on how RIM could pull this off. They could do a pay by day plan, or a monthly plan. Another nifty idea is BlackBerry In A Box, which would come with a year of BIS service. There are a few more obstacles, such as the high cost of the device. Considering how much these devices cost carriers, that could become an obstacle for the consumer.]]>
Posted in Prepaid Services
Hmm.. here’s the thing. I do not really think the new Pearl of Storm is all that great, it just carries the brand name of a celebrity choice. So therefore, most people who get prepaid plans are worried about money, so I see it as highly uncharacteristic for many people to be worried about purchasing a Blackberry prepaid. The same is true of any of the newest large ticket Smartphones from the Blackberry, to the Android, to the Xperia X1 by Sony Ericcson.
I think this is inevitable. The subsidy issue is the biggest barrier: Sell it too low without a contract, and customers could leave before the carrier breaks even; sell it too high and people won’t buy it. Unfortunately, north america is one of the only regions where prepaid has such a negative stigma. In other parts of the world, it’s simply a payment method, and often the dominant one. Once people overcome this and realize that it offers tremendous value, it will grow even more rapidly into the mainstream. Lastly, prepaid is also about flexibility, and I think people would be surprised how much money people will spend on a phone that offers features they want. I’ve seen prepaid users spend $300+ on a phone b/c they like it. The real cost is the service, for which they have full control over how much they spend. It’ll be interesting to see how this evolves.
Cheers,
PrepaidWirelessGuy
http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com/compare-prepaid-plans.html
I would definitely use a BB prepaid! I am looking for one now as a matter of fact. Would love to be able to use it now.