T-Mobile bribes fanbois to trade iPhone for...Windows Mobile 6.5
$100 to $350 for Apple abandonment
Updated T-Mobile has instituted a tried-and-true incentive to induce iPhone users to switch to their HTC HD2: bribery.
The wireless carrier, based in Bellevue, Washington - a stone's throw from Microsoft's Redmond digs - will slip apostate iPhone owners $100 to $350 if they trade in their working Cupertinian smartphones for HTC's hot-selling HD2.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the deal will be offered by participating dealers, the company's 1-800-TMOBILE sales service and "business direct sales representatives" until May 19. T-Mobile didn't immediately respond to our confirmation request, nor our query as to which iPhone defectors get $100 and which get $350.
There's one catch though - and it's a big one: the HD2, though a fine phone, is lumbered by a dead-end operating system, Windows Mobile 6.5. And as we reported last month, phones running that operating system won't be upgradeable to Microsoft's latest and greatest Windows Phone 7 (née Series) when it's released later this year.
As you might assume, it's a good bet that developers won't spend much time creating new apps for an end-of-the-line operating system.
When Windows Mobile 6.5 debuted last fall, Reg Hardware rightly referred to it as being "really just the same old Windows Mobile with a smoother interface, touch-based navigation and some updated programs." Even no less a Windows-pusher than Steve Ballmer said that 6.5 was "not the full release we wanted."
On Engadget, a reviewer less biased than Ballmer was also less kind, saying that the 6.5 update was "very much a stopgap, complete with duct tape, bubble gum, and Bondo."
But if you're dissatisfied with either your iPhone or its oft-spotty AT&T service, T-Mobile will be more than happy to set you up with a cutting-edge smartphone running a retro operating system - and with no path to the future. ®
Update
T-Mobile responded to our queries with an only slightly less-vague statement: "Starting April 1 through May 19, customers may trade-in their iPhone and receive up to $350 when purchasing an HTC HD2 and ... the value of the trade-in will vary based on the generation and memory of the device."
COMMENTS
Yes....
Yes, because that would be a completely accurate analogy.
WM6.5 it is lightyears ahead of 6.1
Cheese wiz on toast is light years ahead of dog crap on a stick but I still don't want any.
It's true.
It's certainly true that iPhone owners covet the HD2 - an iPhone owning colleague here in the office won't stop bugging me to show him stuff on my HD2 and he's certainly gagging to ditch his iPhone.
Perhaps this deal is for him.
Accurate analogy?
Of course your Kia will work quite happily for as long as you want it to at minimal cost, while with the Merc you'll be paying a never ending series of eye-wateringly large bills.
Than again, maybe the analogy holds here too?
Oh.....hang on....HTC hardware? This one's busted.....
Its the same over here...
An iPhone owning colleague now wants an HD2 after seeing mine. He agrees that the HD2 makes the iPhone look like a Fisher Price style "My First Phone"
