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Apple has added RadioShack to its small cadre of retail partners who will begin offering the iPhone 4 June 24.
Following Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ June 7 introduction of the iPhone 4, Apple announced that newest smartphone will begin selling in Apple and AT&T retail and online stores, as well as at Best Buy and Wal-Mart stores. For those wanting to assure they have an iPhone 4 in hand June 24, Apple’s Online Store will begin accepting order reservations in the United States, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom on June 15.
AT&T and Best Buy will also begin taking preorders June 15, and as of June 14, RadioShack had also gotten in the action. According to PC World, a RadioShack in Boston will begin taking preorders at 7 a.m.-making it a good bet for getting on the list.
On June 24, RadioShack will additionally be sweetening its iPhone deal with a device turn-in program. Consumers purchasing an Apple iPhone 4 can bring in older electronics and put the devices’ estimated values toward an iPhone 4 purchase.
At a Brooklyn-area RadioShack, a sales representative named Shaquana told eWEEK that only some electronics trade-ins will be allowed in-store, and others will have to be arranged online. Devices that one can safely trade-in at the store, she said, include “phones and game consoles, chargers, old cameras and camcorders.”
While the iPhone 4 will retail for $199 for the 16GB model and $299 for the 32GB model, at Apple and AT&T online and retail stores, AT&T announced June 7 that it will be offering its “best pricing” to current iPhone customers who are eligible for an upgrade anytime in 2010.
“Individual iPhone voice and data plans now start at just $54.99 per month (was previously $69.99) and FamilyTalk voice and data plans with two iPhones start at just $89.99 per month (was $119.99). Our data plans all include unlimited usage at more than 20,000 AT&T WiFi Hot Spots in the U.S.,” Bridges told eWEEK in an e-mail.
The exact language for upgrades, she added, is: “Any existing iPhone customer eligible for an upgrade between [June 7] and the end of this year will be eligible for our best pricing for iPhone 4, $199 and $299, with a two-year term commitment.”
The difference, she added, “is that what’s important is iPhone customers’ current upgrade date…not when their contract expires. That’s better for customers, since many customers are upgrade-eligible well before their contract expires.”
To check upgrade eligibility, iPhone owners can dial *639# or visit www.att.com/iphone.
On June 24, Apple will also begin offering its 8GB iPhone 3GS for $99, and AT&T will offer the 16GB and 32GB iPhone 3GS for $159 and $199, respectively-with a two-year commitment plus voice and data plans.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The text has been corrected to reflect that Best Buy, and not Wal-Mart, will be accepting pre-orders for the iPhone 4 beginning June 15.