It’s not an everything-must-go sale, but T-Mobile’s planned one-day super sale Sept. 24 could push some smartphone and tablet lovers off the fence they’ve been perched on.
During this Saturday’s “Yes, Every Smartphone Is on Sale, Sale,” T-Mobile is selling all of its smartphones, tablets and mobile broadband hotspots for $99.99 down or less, after a mail-in rebate card.
Consumers need only put down between $0 and $99 for devices such as the HTC Sensation 4G and T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide Android smartphones, the T-Mobile G-Slate, and the new BlackBerry Bold 9900. T-Mobile lists all the deals here.
For example, the Sensation 4G will cost $99 after the $100 mail-in rebate card. The G-Slate, which is made by LG Electronics, will be $99 after the $200 mail-in rebate card.
The kicker is that consumers can’t just buy the device. They must subscribe to one of T-Mobile’s unlimited data plans and ink a two-year agreement at any T-Mobile retail store.
“T-Mobile is committed to making 4G affordable with the latest wireless mobile Internet services and devices that fit within every budget, all on America’s largest 4G network,” said John Clelland, senior vice president of marketing at T-Mobile USA.
T-Mobile is ostensibly begging for consumer adoption at a time when it faces an uphill battle in AT&T’s (NYSE:T) $39.6 billion acquisition bid for the company.
T-Mobile in July launched its Value plan, with unlimited talk, unlimited text and unlimited data, including 2GB of high-speed data, for the heavily discounted price point of just $49.99 per line for two lines.
T-Mobile could use a good, big sale after U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle set Feb. 13, 2012, as the starting date for the trial of the U.S. Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit, which seeks to permanently block AT&T’s buyout of T-Mobile.
The DOJ Aug. 31 filed its antitrust lawsuit against AT&T and Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile’s parent company), charging that the merger would be bad for consumers by raising prices, limiting choice, and reducing competition and innovation. Sprint, which would be shunted to the bottom of the top U.S. carrier pecking order if AT&T succeeds in its bid, also vehemently protested the move.
If nothing else, the merger bid jump-started lackluster product efforts from T-Mobile, which is in limbo, and especially Sprint, which has pumped out Android phone after Android phone. These include the Kyocera Echo and Motorola Photon 4G.