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The promotion was renewed on Wednesday and will be available through Friday, Dec. 31. Customers can get an 8GB iPhone 3GS for $48.99, or a 16GB iPhone 4 for $148.99, both $51 off their regular price with a two-year contract. On the high end, the 32GB iPhone 4 is available for $248.99.
Radio Shack has also reduced the prices on refurbished iPhones, selling the 16GB iPhone 4 for $124 with contract, and 32GB iPhone 4 for $224. A refurbished iPhone 3GS is now free with a new activation contract, and $24 for upgrading customers.
But unlike the previous deal, the retailer is reportedly not upping the value of its Trade & Save program. Under the promotion earlier this month, customers who traded in a working iPhone 3G could receive a $75 credit, while a working iPhone 3GS was worth $125, allowing buyers to grab an iPhone 4 for as little as $25.
Update: Readers are reporting that Radio Shack is offering the higher trade-in values of up to $125 for an iPhone 3GS and up to $75 for an iPhone 3G during the three day sale in their areas. However, several Radio Shack stores contacted by AppleInsider confirmed that their trade-in credits were at "normal levels."
The three-day sale is again being advertised as Radio Shack's lowest price ever on the iPhone. The previous sale proved to be such a tremendous success that the company was left with a nationwide shortage of the iPhone before the promotion concluded.
Supplies for the new sale may not be readily available, either. At least one store reached by AppleInsider on Wednesday indicated it does not currently have the iPhone in stock. Radio Shack has more than 4,600 storefronts worldwide.
Previously unheard of, promotions of the iPhone became increasingly common this holiday buying season. Another major retailer, Best Buy, offered customers a free iPhone 3GS this December, with a new two-year-contract. The 8GB iPhone 3GS regularly sells for $99 with a contract.
Andrew O'Hara
Malcolm Owen
Wesley Hilliard
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Christine McKee
11 Comments
Who would buy a 3Gs now? I sold mine a few months ago for $200, bought an iPhone 4 and ATT allowed me to roll it into my existing contract...even though I only had had the 3Gs for less than 8 months.
Pretty good deal! Except I still think, $120/mo is too expensive. But I do have unlimited calling and Data so that is some conciliation, I guess.
PS. Don't want to be misleading, I'm pretty sure ATT extended my 2 year contract by 8 months or maybe, knowing ATT, by another 4 years!
Great deal but unfortunately no stores in the Chicago are have them in stock and have not had them.
And no rain checks of course!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't know. Give one to a family member?
This is very interesting... I find it very hard to believe that RS is doing this themselves, but I also find it hard to believe that Apple would discount this much. My hunch is that AT&T is behind this -- maybe they're trying to lock in as many contracts as they possibly can before the iPhone becomes available on Verizon...
This is very interesting... I find it very hard to believe that RS is doing this themselves, but I also find it hard to believe that Apple would discount this much. My hunch is that AT&T is behind this -- maybe they're trying to lock in as many contracts as they possibly can before the iPhone becomes available on Verizon...
That's entirely possible: AT&T offering a bounty for Radio Shack iPhone subscriptions. They surreptiously fund discounting of a third-party retailer which doesn't the erode in their own stores. With RS supplies being tight, that might drive more traffic to AT&T Retail by people exasperated at trying to find the discounted RS handset.
If I recall from an earlier article, RS also has value-priced reburbished iPhones, too.
As you say, it may be a last ditch effort to nap a bunch of two-year subscriptions before handset exclusivity expires. Whether or not it comes to Verizon is questionable; it may be another U.S. mobile operator.