T-Mobile today announced a new upgrade plan called "Jump" where subscribers on installment plans will be able to, after six months, trade in their phones for new devices twice a year.
"Two years is too long to wait. That's 730 days of watching new phones come out that you can't have," T-Mobile CEO John Legere said during a Wednesday event in New York.
Jump will cost $10 per month over the phone's monthly installment plan price, and that will include comprehensive phone insurance as well. When you bring your phone back in, it'll be checked for damage and a $20-$70 deductible will be charged if it has a cracked screen, water damage, or doesn't turn on. Then you'll be able to pick a new phone at the current installment-plan rate. If your phone works fine, there's no deductible.
"You'll immediately qualify for our best new customer deal on your next device," said Mike Seivert, T-Mobile's chief marketing officer. "It's about simplicity, it's about fairness and it's about value."
The new plan will help T-Mobile keep the loyalty of those who want the newest gadgets from the Samsung Galaxy and Apple iPhone lines who otherwise have to skip a generation on two-year contracts, Sievert said. That will drive new customers to T-Mobile and reduce "churn," or the number of customers who leave the carrier, Legere said.
"Our handset sales in '13, '14, '15 is going to be a s**tload more," Legere said.
Jump will create a huge new library of T-Mobile refurbished phones that the company will then be able to resell to customers who pay cash up-front, such as MetroPCS customers, Sievert said.
"We think there's a huge opportunity here that's untapped," he said "More and more of the volume in this industry is going to big global famous brand SKUs. We're going to create a refurbished market for those devices and resell them at a lower price … these are carrier certified, open box devices that themselves qualify for Jump," he said.
T-Mobile today also announced a large expansion of its 4G LTE network to a total of 116 metropolitan areas, including New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta, Miami, and more.