As I was looking through the morning BlackBerry news, I noticed that Sure Mobile, a division of UK based Cable and Wireless, launched a pay-as-you-go BlackBerry plan. I don’t have all the details yet but it did get me to thinking about a pay-as-you-go BlackBerry plan over here in the United States.
Would it fly over here? On one hand it could be cost prohibitive. On the other, some of the MVNOs like Helio are already offering unlimited plans for under $100 I and I am sure someone could make a BIS only plan with unlimited data work in $100 per month range.
The big question is would there be enough of a market for it? I am guessing that if RIM continues to put out really cool devices like the BlackBerry Curve and BlackBerry Pearl and an MVNO opens it up to all the media that those types of services usually offer, it just might.
in the late 90s and early 00s in NYC, every person who was even tangentially conected to the music industry had a motorolla 2 way pager, which turned into the sidekick. BBs are the new device of choice for many, but those plans are rough for alot of people so they end up getting a tmobile plan with a data only plan. I think pay as you go would work for alot of people if it were priced competitively.
From a pricing standpoint, TMO is in that ballpark of $100 and unlimited data, text, and about 1000 minutes. Usually BB users are heavy users, thus the ‘as you go plan’ may exceed their price point. To track what you’ve ‘used’ would be such a pain.
I think if u gave it a couple weeks, depending on when you started the offer,then it would be a success. I, personally, am worried about gas prices rising and am looking to other places to cut prices. My phone bill currently stands at $96 a month when I use 100 minutes or less and my texting average is about 5 a day. My only reason for not finding a new phone plan is because of the $200 cancellation fee. Totaling almost $300 just to have to find another phone and plan to have to pay for within the month. I have always wanted to replace my planner and phone for a blackberry phone. If BB decides to get a pay-as-you-go BB, I would definatly be happy to pay my $200 cancellation fee and $96 bill one last time to switch over.
Not that what I pay is terrible, but for my used minutes, it is. I am always writing stuff in my planner and on the internet, the BB pay-as-you-go would be the perfect solution.
After having a Blackberry for so long and becoming used to having all my information at my fingertips. I am missing so much because I’m in a new division of the company that does not require a phone. Yes. There is a personal market for the Blackberry. Small companies sometimes need the phone service to stay on a person level until opened and running. Yes. There is a market for pay as you go Blackberry.
Lots of PAYG now available in the Uk i notice, it would be nice to have it here