AppleInsider Staff
Apple is planning to add Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone handsets to the list of acceptable trade-ins for its Reuse and Recycling Program, which exchanges used hardware for Apple Store gift cards.
Citing sources with knowledge of Apple's latest initiative, BuzzFeed reports Apple is preparing to expand its Reuse and Recycling Program to include non-iOS handsets, including hardware running iOS nemesis Android.
Under Apple's current program, first launched in 2011, iPhone users can nab an Apple Store gift card worth up to $175 for a fully functional 64GB iPhone 5s. The company will reportedly offer similar deals for smartphones running Android, BlackBerry and Windows Phone operating systems, but specific hardware grading criteria is unknown.
Sources did not specify an exact start date, but said the program extension should take effect in the coming weeks, the report said.
The trade-in program expansion will be another step in luring smartphone users away from Google's Android platform. Last September, for example, Apple launched a webpage dedicated to migrating content from an Android device to one running iOS.
In January, CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus debut drove the highest Android switch rate of any iPhone launch in the past three years. The new models also helped iPhone take a record 89 percent of global smartphone operating profits during the last fiscal quarter of 2014, pushing Android down to 11.3 percent.
Andrew Orr
Amber Neely
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
22 Comments
What a great idea, Make sure they get them out of circulation, at least we know apple will dispose of them properly. They will not end up in some poor person in a 3rd world county, and making them think this is the best the world has to offer.
what is the gift card value of a one year old POS flagship device that cannot get the newest software update, tonnes of hype and bad reviews, security flaws, and its contents carbon copied on a google server?
I traded my 16GB 5S on Amazon for $350 while my 16GB 5 through Craisgslist for $200 in January this year. 64GB 5S shoul worth close $300.
I guess now we know what Apple has planned for all those massive ovens that were supposed to create sapphire. Load in Android crapphones and set to "Incinerate".
what is the gift card value of a one year old POS flagship device that cannot get the newest software update, tonnes of hype and bad reviews, security flaws, and its contents carbon copied on a google server?
It can't be much, Apple will destroy them in a environment friendly way the best that can be done with these things. I got my iPhone 6 from T-mobile and then a short time later they offered a trade in deal. So I got my old iPhone 4 32 gig AT&T version, yep 4+ years old I've been using it that long, and got $202 for it!!! I expected around $50 or something for being that old. I had iOS7 on it, it was laggy and at times, I wanted to throw it against a wall and watch it shatter, yet in the end I got $202 for it. Apple supported it for 4 years. It started out at iOS4, got iOS5, iOS6, and iOS7 plus all the other updates in between. you still get these fandroids going, oh look, Apple is not supporting the iPhone 4 anymore. I mean really???? That's a great run for a Smartphone with tech advancing as fast as it it. You're lucky if you can get the Google recommended 18 months of support, and that's on the high end phones. All the cheapies which is a majority of Android phones sold see ZERO updates.
I think this is a great idea for Apple to do. Apple makes close to 90% of the profits for Smart phones sold. That means Apple has spending money to do things like this and still not be losing money!!!! Then you get them into the Apple services and make some more money after the sale. Again something you can't do on Android as Google makes all the money on services, except the China phone market where Google is pretty much a no show. $50 for that crap Android phone to destroy it and get a person onto the iPhone would be worth it. Now it's iPhone, Apple services, maybe even a Apple Watch and AppleTV, maybe go so far as get a MAC. You never know. Maybe Apple isn't as bad as they thought, and in fact much better experience then Android. As for Windows and Blackberry, throw them a bone also, maybe it'll kill them off once and for all, Not dead, but out of the Phone/tablet market.
I got this Winbook TW700 7" Windows 8.1 tablet a few weeks just to try. See if it was any better then the crap that is Windows 8/8.1 on the Desktop, and Nope, just as bad. The Metro/not Metro interface is not bad on the Tablet. Problem is it goes into the normal Windows Desktop at times for things, and trying to do anything on a 7" screen on the only desktop interface SUCKS!!!! On the Desk top it's the same. Goes into the Metro Interface when you want to be in the old Desktop. The OS can't make up it's mind what it wants to be. It's trying to be everything on everything and just fails!!! I built a high end Windows 7 Desktop last year. I like Windows 7. I got the tablet because they're giving these things away. Under $70 and induces Windows Office 365 year subscription. That can be used on your Windows Desktop, or iPad, or where ever. So ya, basically free. They're giving these things away basically and my iPad 3 is still far better. There's a number of issues with this Windows tablet. It's not the tablet, it's Windows!!! Personally I think 7" for a tablet is to small anyway and that includes the iPad Mini. If Apple comes out with a larger iPad, I'd get it!!!