Industry Analyst Jeff Kagan on Verizon Wireless Edge Upgrade Now 30 Days Rather Than Six Months
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) January 20, 2014 -- Verizon Wireless announced they are changing their Edge upgrade plan to let customers upgrade their wireless phones every 30 days rather than every six months, says NBC News, Jan. 20.
Technology analyst Jeff Kagan offers comment.
“Early upgrades is the direction the industry looks like it is heading. Until recently customers had to wait two years to upgrade their handsets. However new handsets with innovative features are coming out much more often. That meant users had to wait. That was a problem for the early adopters,” says Tech analyst Jeff Kagan.
“While that is not a problem for many customers, it is for early adopters. That’s why over the last few months all the major carriers have introduced their early upgrade plans. These plans seem to be changing on a regular basis as well,” says Principal analyst Kagan.
AT&T Mobility has Next and T-Mobile has Jump. During the last couple weeks Sprint first cancelled their new early adopter plan and replaced it with Easy Pay. Now Verizon Wireless is changing theirs as well. Theirs is still called Edge, but lets customers upgrade every 30 days.
“This is not the end of the changes in this space. If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say we will see other changes as well as carriers try to one-up each other. These plans are not for every customers. They are for one slice of the customer pie. They are apparently successful with a segment of consumers who want early upgrades. The early adopters,” says wireless analyst Kagan.
“So Verizon is taking this early upgrade idea one step further. They are letting customers upgrade as early as every 30 days. This is a good idea and will help them in the competitive market, at least until competitors match their offer, which I would think could be soon. That’s how things work in wireless,” says Kagan.
“Don’t be fooled into thinking customers will be trading up every 30 days. Generally speaking, don’t expect customers to upgrade every 30 days. Customers are too busy to learn a new device every month. However this does put the timeframe in the customers court. The decision on when to upgrade is now in the customers hands instead of in Verizon’s hands. And that will make a difference to the customer who likes to always have something new,” says Kagan.
About Jeff Kagan
Jeff Kagan is a Technology Industry Analyst, consultant and columnist. He is regularly quoted by the media and shares his opinion in many ways over 25 years.
He offers comment to reporters and journalists on wireless, telecom, Internet, cable television, IPTV and other tech news stories.
Kagan is also known as a Tech Analyst, Wireless Analyst, Telecom Analyst and Principal Analyst.
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Contact: Jeff Kagan by email at jeff(at)jeffKAGAN(dot)com or by phone at 770-579-5810.
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Twitter: @jeffkagan
Jeff Kagan, Jeff Kagan, Tech Analyst, Industry Analyst, http://www.jeffKAGAN.com, +1 (770) 579-5810, [email protected]
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