With the unveiling of Apple’s next-generation iPhone only a few hours away, many iPhone owners are learning that they will be able to upgrade sooner than originally thought. Last night, AT&T adjusted eligibility requirements so that even more iPhone owners will be able to get the new device when its launched — many of whom weren’t eligible for upgrade until November of this year.
The news isn’t exactly shocking. Last year, AT&T allowed iPhone 3G users to upgrade to the newer iPhone 3G S at the same discounted price as new subscribers. The move followed customer criticism about having to pay a $200 fee to upgrade to the iPhone 3G S before their two-year contract was over. Now AT&T is getting ahead of the crowd to make sure recent customers will see the same heavily-subsidized iPhone pricing as new and out-of-contract users.
It was somewhat surprising last year that AT&T allowed customers to upgrade early. Had it been any other device, AT&T would have likely held its ground and forced users to either pay the early-upgrade fee, or wait until their contract was over. But because they were iPhone users, and because AT&T wanted as little bad publicity as possible, they received special treatment.
AT&T will now have to continue with the early-upgrade offer for every new iPhone release. Existing customers who upgrade early will get signed up for another two-year contract, but the carrier is still losing out somewhat. Still, it’s more than worth the cost for AT&T since it keeps users from defecting to other carriers.
To check if you’re eligible for an early iPhone upgrade, log-on to AT&T’s website and click the “Check Upgrade Options” link.
Tags: iPhone
Last month, Pepsi made the bold move of forgoing Super Bowl ads in favor of a $20 million social media campaign centered around the Pepsi Refresh Project.
Today we’re excited to announce that we have an opportunity to get of our reader’s ideas funded to the tune of $50,000, and it will all happen within the next couple weeks in conjunction with SXSW. We’ll also be keeping you updated about the project and letting you know how you can help here on Mashable.
Here’s how it works:
We’re asking our readers to submit their best pro-social digital ideas to us by Sunday, March 7th, at 11:59pm ET. For an idea of what we mean by “pro-social,” check out some of the submissions already on the Refresh Project site.
We’ll select our favorite, and work with the winning team to formalize an application to Pepsi. Because this is Mashable, our criteria will focus both on the idea and its proposed social media strategy.
We’ll be competing against other “digital influencers” to win the $50,000 in funding. I’ll personally be presenting our choice at SXSW along with the winning team (meaning you’ll have to be at SXSW to present) when the voting portion kicks off on March 13th. We’ll also be using Mashable’s online reach to promote our idea make sure we bring home the funding for it!
Voting will take place publicly via Twitter with a unique hashtag for our chosen team and the #PepsiRefresh hashtag. Voting will end at 11:59pm CT on March 15th.
Interested? Be sure to read Pepsi’s guidelines and eligibility requirements (a key one being this is US-only) and then submit your idea to Mashable by going here. We’ll be in touch with the winning team early on March 9th to discuss next steps. We look forward to your ideas and working with our selected team!
Disclosure: Pepsi is a previous sponsor of Mashable events.
Tags: Pepsi, pepsi refresh, social media, sxsw
