The trend with smartphones recently has been to make them cute and attractive to regular, everyday consumers along with making them cheaper. Starting back in June with the release of the Motorola Q, the price of these devices dipped under the $200 mark.
Historically, the lofty price tag on most smartphones, often exceeding $400 to $500 dollars for the device in addition to a voice a data plan, set the bar too high for many consumers. Lowering smartphone prices to the range of high end mobile phones with advanced features such as MP3 and video playback addresses one side of the equation. Data plans, however, that often cost $30 or more on top of minutes plans still make smartphones such as the popular BlackBerry Pearl cost prohibitive to a large segment of potential smart phone buyers.
Research in Motion co-CEO Jim Balsillie has talked about the possibility of carries offering BlackBerry devices without the data plans. My question is will we start to see cheaper data plans targeted at consumers such as the BlackBerry Personal Plan from Cingular?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t comment for CDMA carriers but I know there are many GSM customers who have a BlackBerry be it from Rogers Wireless in Canada or In the U.S.A. with BlackBerries from T-Mobile or Cingular and have no data plan on the device. They use it for voice, sms, and its organizer functions. It is easy to buy one from a carrier, e-tailer or Ebay and pop your sim card into it. Many people whom I know personally use the BlackBerry with no data plan and they love it. They have no need for email but love the organizer and since they text quite a bit they love the querty key board.
I have heard that CDMA carriers require customers to use a data plan with the device and they cannot use the device with no data but then again it’s heresay so I can’t really say.
I think RIM did a great thing with the Pearl in making it more consumer friendly. It’s been a success with consumers and prosumers alike. I think in the future we will be seeing more users with no data plans. I also hope in the future data costs come down especially in Canada where BlackBerry data rates are exremely expensive.
I’ve seen Alltel’s (CDMA) data plans for smartphones go from $59.99 to $25 a month for unlimited data. Alltel’s unlimited data plans for BlackBerry’s has not moved still $44.99 w/vioce plan and $49.99 for data only.
Here is my beef….. I currently use Alltel for cellular coverage. I recently purchased a UT Starcom 6700 with WiFi. I don’t need the data plan at all but when I called to activate the phone they insisted that since I have a smart phone I absolutely must have a data plan to use the phone on their network. That is just insane!!!!!! I am sure that there will be more manufacturers coming out with WiFi enabled phones , not needing the data network for synchronizing e-mail/data, web functions. I think they need to change their ways and allow owners of WiFi phones to use the phone without the expensive data plan…….
I got a UT Starcom 6700 on ebay, and Alltel tried to pull the samething on me and I argued and went through 2 customer service reps and tech support until I finally got transfered to customer care ( about 40 min.) and I explained the situation. The first thing she said was -”They have given you incorrect information.” She explained that if you buy a phone at a discount form them, then yes you have to by a smartphone plan. But if you pay full retail or you buy the phone online from a retailer other than alltel i.e. ebay, that yes they can activate the phone and they did so, except as soon as they did that my wifi quit working. I’ve been on with advanced tech support 2 and downloaded some software that they sent me, but to no avail. Bummer – I love the phone, but I can’t find any info to resovle my problem. It will no longer allow me to turn on my wifi, and Alltel claims it’s nothing on their end. I’ll just keep looking.