Rumor: Apple Made Verizon Get Rid of the "New Every 2 Years" Discount

Something's should be left alone. Unfortunately, they weren't and the discount Verizon used to offer was one of them. Yesterday, I had to call into the Verizon Wireless Center to check on my available upgrade discount because as most of you may or may not know, Verizon axed the "New Every Two Year" discount effective January 16th. That date was the official cut off date for the discount which means that if you haven't been a customer for more than a year previous to the date mentioned, you would be ineligible to receive the discounted price for your upgrades. I also found out that if you do in fact have a eligible upgrade, you only have 6 months after January 16th to use your discount before it is gone forever.

Hopefully by the time the big name phones like the Bionic and the Revolution come out we all will be able to use our upgrades to get the phone of our dreams. Now I do have to say that even after you use your upgrade, after that, it will be gone forever. No more discounts on top of discounts. But this is where things get interesting. While I was talking to the Verizon Service Rep on the phone, I got the chance to ask them why the discount was being taken away after all this time. Now if you have been following us or any other mobile news channel, you know that Verizon has said that they were getting rid of it to prep for the arrival of the iPhone. Some reasons were stated to possible keep the influx customers in line so that the network wouldn't get hit like the At&t has been getting hit since the dawn of the iPhone on their network. While I was talking to them though, they said something of a little interest.

They said that in order to get the iPhone on the Verizon network, one of the stipulations from Apple was that they had to get rid of their discount plan. Now I know what you may be thinking, "Flash, that doesn't sound right! Why would Apple make Verizon do that? They still have the phone on At&t so whats the difference? Well, if you think about it, normally when Verizon offers a brand spanking new phone, the starting price for the phone for 2 year customers is almost always $199.99. Now if you have a 2 year contract under Verizon you should be eligible for a discount of about $100. Now that $199.99 is the discount rate for 2 year customers, so if you add another $100 to that discount, you end up getting a new iPhone for a cheap $99.99. "But Flash, current customers will already be offered that rate when they use the upgrades they already have?" That may be true but what about the hordes of iPhone fans that may want to change to Verizon? They wont have the 2 year upgrade option.

Now if you think about it, there may be millions more coming from At&t that are willing to come to Verizon for the iPhone 4 instead of a drastic shift inside the Verizon camp itself. That means that millions of dollars will be coming to Apple's way instead of the discounted priced money that they could have received from the Verizon customers if they were able to get the phone at a discounted price. I know this may be a little bit of speculation on my part but it just seems to make sense. Apple definitely is looking to make money in this endeavor with Verizon and what better way to do it then to shut down any discounted rates for the iPhone then to make them get rid of the discount so they can get more money.

It just adds up to me that way, but maybe you think it could have happened for the reasons that Verizon had stated before. But think of it another way. If Verizon had said that they weren't going to get rid of the discount after all the leaks, the statements officials and reps had made about the iPhone coming to Verizon, and then Apple calling off the deal right in the middle would have looked bad. So they had no other choice but to get rid of the discount.

So Steve Jobs managed to screw Android users over right before he went on his exile..... I mean is sick leave. Rats!