How I got my BlackBerry Bold for $30
I'm now the proud owner of a BlackBerry Bold.
For a while, I was trying to decide if I wanted to ditch my iPhone 3G for the Bold. After some research and hands-on time with Research In Motion's beauty, I decided that it was in my best interest to escape from Apple's grips.
But there was a problem: the BlackBerry Bold is expensive. If you're not eligible for a two-year upgrade, the Bold will set you back $550 at the AT&T store. If you're new to AT&T or eligible for the upgrade price, you pay $399.99.
I didn't want to spend that much on a mobile phone that replaced another expensive gadget. Plus, I wasn't eligible for an upgrade. So I decided to head down to the AT&T store to talk with a representative to figure it all out. And much to my surprise, he and I determined that I would end up paying just $30 for the Bold.
Here's how it worked:
When I spoke with the representative, he informed me that although I wasn't eligible for the upgrade price, my wife's line was. So I used her upgrade option to immediately reduce the price from $550 to $399.99.
Although I was forced to plunk down $399.99 for the Bold, it came with a $100 AT&T mail-in rebate, reducing the effective cost to $299.99.
After I paid, the AT&T representative told me that if I wanted to ditch my iPhone for good, I could use RIM's BlackBerry Trade-up Program, which allows you trade in any phone you have hanging around the house for some cash.
I decided that my iPhone 3G was dispensable, so he and I worked through the process of checking its value. After inputting that it was in almost-perfect condition, it returned a value I never thought possible: the iPhone was worth $222. And with an additional $50 added to that amount, thanks to a promotion code (he told me the promotion code is "graduate"), RIM would pay me $272.
I was shocked.
Once I get that payment from RIM, I'll have paid $27 (about $30 after tax) for the BlackBerry Bold. Thought it was impossible? Think again.
And you can do it too. The iPhone has one of the highest values, but any phone you own can be turned into cash. Even my wife's old, cracked iPhone fetched $22. And it doesn't matter which provider you use--RIM gives rebates to anyone. But I should note that the only way to receive cash from RIM is if you provide a BlackBerry proof-of-purchase.
So what are you waiting for? If you want a BlackBerry, don't spend more than you have to. Heck, if you have enough phones with value, you might actually profit on the deal.
Who could guess that?
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Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Now your wife is stuck with her phone for two years (or until the contract on your line is up), unless you want to pay full price or buy unlocked, which I suspect you don't...I hope you got her consent on that ;)
I'm ditching my Blackberry for a new iPhone in July. Guaranteed I won't get as good a deal :-(
I guess that says a lot about Apple versus Blackberry quality.
Actually the key to a smart phone's value is its ability to synch with home/office computers.
And the net work. And the App Store. And the funny Mac versus PC ads.
yet go to cellforcash.com
and you will see that currently you get $240 for bold in return, while iphone 3G 8GB gives $150 in return
okay yeah highest value
And while you say you only paid $30 for it, you also gave up a piece of hardware that would cost you several hundred dollars to replace. Your net cost for this Bold is effectively $400 more (the cost of the iphone 3G).
You gave up a phone that launches complete programs with a single click icon for a OLD TECHNOLOGY (not even open sourced) Blackberry! This just shows the divide between people who know how to compute and those whom don't.
If you look on ebay / craigslist people are tradeing Bolds for iPhones and paying hundreds!!!
Enjoy your mobile only webpages, a super small non-touch screen, and clitchy O/S. But since you don't understand O/S architecture, you don't mind!!!
Only good thing is you only paid $30 for it (even though you trade the greatest phone ever made in) cause that is all that phone is worth!
[Editors' note: Personal attacks deleted]
You could have bought a refurb model and MADE money on this transaction.
I'll take the BB over the iPhone any day of the week, and twice on Sunday's. Don't get me wrong, the iPhone is nice. I bought an iPod Touch and I use it for exactly what I wanted. I real-time stock app, a currency calc, bloomberg, and a few other apps. I run the batter dead by the time the market closes. But who cares, it's not my phone. It's an accessory, and that's all I want from it.
The BB has a better portfolio app, which is not realtime, but it truly understands the concept of selling and buying a stock out of the portfolio cash. I find it a better app, but for different reasons. RIM did have an outage, but I swear, Active Sync is not that great. I've had 4 phones that use Active Sync and none of them are as reliable for email as the BlackBerry. I can also multitask and the battery lasts far far longer than the iPhone. Easily 4 to 5 times longer. And it's replaceable.
What I did like about the iPhone is not the phone or email. So an iPod Touch is fine.
But wait, you upgraded your wife's line, so now you are paying $30x2=$60/month data access on your two lines, and you have only one Blackberry Bold (which I assume you are using). What phone does your wife use? Does she use the data connection?
If she doesn't, then you just signed contract to pay $30x24=$720 (+tax and fees) extra for the additional data line which you don't use.
And as others have said you might want to try that thing called "Craig's list" next time to sell your "like new" iphone, you could have made more money and not had to sign a 2 year contract.
I really can't wait to read your next article now (for a laugh), what do you have on deck???? You could always go to the apple store and drop a couple of grand $$$ on a mac book and then get Dell to let you trade it for a $300 net book and tell us all what a great deal that is!
- by go_live May 1, 2009 9:13 AM PDT
- try selling your Bold in a year. You won't get the $30 you just spent not to mention the time and hassel that you put up with just to get a "Deal." Next time, just send my your unwanted iPhone.
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