Another cellular provider has joined the fleet of carriers that offer the iPhone, bringing a pre-paid option to Apple’s extremely popular smartphone for the first time.
That carrier is the pre-paid company Cricket, a division of Leap Wireless, according to a story from Ars Technica. Cricket will begin offering pre-paid options for the iPhone starting on June 22, which means that users will be able to purchase iPhones and use them on a month-to-month basis, rather than having to sign-up for a two-year contract, as with U.S. cellular carriers AT&T, Sprint and Verizon.
The plan Cricket is offering is actually a pretty good deal: $55 per month for “unlimited” texts, talking and data. That’s less expensive than the cheapest plans available from the top three cellular carriers in the U.S., and with unlimited data being phased out just about everywhere because of the costs and network strains, Cricket might soon be the only game in town for users who want to stream lots of videos and the like. Of course, “unlimited” has a caveat – Cricket throttles data after users suck up more than 2.5 gigabytes’ worth. But that’s a hard mark to hit if you’re not constantly streaming things.
The drawback, of course, is that without a contract, Cricket won’t be subsidizing the cost of the iPhones users are purchasing. When you buy an iPhone from AT&T, for example, and pay only $199 for it (for the cheapest versions, usually), the price is that low because AT&T is paying a significant portion of the purchase price to Apple. The company wants you on contract for two years, and is willing to help you purchase a phone to get you.
With Cricket, an 8GB iPhone 4 will run at about $400; a 16GB iPhone 4S will cost $500. That’s more expensive than getting the devices on contract, but cheaper than, say, what you’d pay if you were to buy unlocked iPhones from AT&T, and you won’t need great credit to get them. Cricket uses a CDMA network, however, in line with what Verizon offers, so using a phone bought from AT&T might not be an option for most users.
Still, seeing more options to get iPhones into users’ hands is a good thing for Apple and iPhone users. As the user base continues to expand, so too will the ecosystem Apple has created and the library of apps available on it. Plus, making iPhones (potentially) more affordable means that more people may soon be able to enjoy Angry Birds who haven’t yet; surely there are a few of those people left out there.
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