Just a few days ago, we noted how Amazon was selling the Palm Pre for $99.99. That’s a savings of $50 from Sprint, Best and The Shack. A company called CellularDeals has dropped the priced even lower, offering the Palm Pre for $79.99. We have no experience with this company, but the price does not require any sort of mail-in rebates, so it appears to be a good deal for those looking to grab the Palm Pre at a great price.
With the price of the Palm Pre dropping below the $99.99 (after mail-in rebates) price associated with the upcoming Palm Pixi, how will that affect sales of both devices. Is the candy bar form factor enough to sway customers away from the better equipped Palm Pre? If you were given the choice today, what device would you select? The Palm Pre at $79 or the Palm Pixi for $99? Let us know in the comments.
Looks like an inphonic web page. They sell their service to a number of retailers who want to get into the phone business online but don’t want to run the online business themselves. They used to do Bestbuy I think and do Newegg and The Shackn last I saw. Usually very severe restrictions on switching plans when you buy through them.
iPhonic went out of business. Not sure if this is what’s left of the company. I would think once you’re with Sprint at the agreed price, you’re good to go. Anyone here order from them before?
Have we heard anything about the rumored memory upgrade to the Pre? It seems like these price cuts over the last month or so would signal the purging of current supplies to make room for the upgrade.
Or are all these cuts due to the Pixi or a slowdown in sales? I’m finally at the point where I can’t wait much longer to upgrade my phone. If a Pre with more memory is coming, I hope an announcement is coming soon!
@Ed I doubt we’ll see anything in the form of a memory upgrade until next year some time. What phone are you currently using and what type of increase are you hoping for? 16GB Palm Pre?
CellularDeals has had this deal for at least a week. Anytime you’ve got the words “Palm Pre” in your Gmail account, it automatically brings up the CellularDeals ad. Supposedly, they charge you $250 if you change plans within the first 6 months or something like that. I’ve heard numerous retailers use this same “tactic”, but I’m not so sure if they actually know you switched plans or not. Supposedly Sprint gives them a $300 commission check right away… but if you drop to a lower-priced plan within 6 months (EPRP, for example), then Sprint does a “chargeback” and takes the $300 back. I’m not positive if the 3rd party store/site actually knows specifically who does what, so I’m not really sure if they can actually charge you or not. It’s certainly not Sprint who would be hitting you up with a $250 charge if you did get one, and supposedly 3rd party dealers/resellers do NOT have access to your Sprint account, so… I dunno about all that. But I would beware. Just fair warning.
As for a Pre with memory upgrade… I don’t see the point. Considering the OS is called WebOS, you should be storing your entire 250gb music collection on a server at home and using one of the many remote music apps on your Pre. I don’t see the necessity in more than 8gb when your phone is designed around the Web in such a way. There’s Pandora, Accuradio, and a few more online radio apps, I believe. Personally, I see the 8gb storage as a failsafe for when you don’t have Sprint coverage. But that’s just me. G Love & Special Sauce’s entire discography will suit me just fine for situations where I’m out of coverage.
The penalty for switching I talked abou is in the terms of the offer:DEACTIVATING THIS PHONE OR DOWNGRADING FEATURES OR THE RATE PLAN MAY LEAD TO ADDITIONAL CHARGES
Our goal is to provide you with the very best purchasing experience possible, including huge savings vs. buying in a retail store. Your phone purchase price was reduced by an Equipment Discount of $200 ($300 for PDA’s/smart phones). By accepting this price reduction, you agreed to repay this discount if, during the 181 days after your new equipment is activated, you:
Fail to pay your balance due to your carrier each month
Disconnect this line of service
Transfer this equipment to another line of service
Change your carrier service rate plan to a lower monthly service rate plan
Deactivate the email/data feature if one was required at the point of purchase
Transfer/port an existing phone number from another account if this is a new line of service
Replace an existing account with this account if this is a new line of service
Return or exchange your phone and it is not in its original, new condition with no more than 30 minutes of usage
If you break any of these contract provisions, except as a result of a documented service quality issue related to the carrier service, you authorize us to charge your credit card in repayment of the Equipment Discount.
So an extra 300 if you switch to a lower plan in less than six months.
The new company is Simplexity and is the remnants of Inphonic which sold it in bankruptcy in 2007.
I bought a Pre from these guys over a week ago, its legit. That is a pretty big downside if you do make any changes to your account within 181 days and something I didnt know until I got the phone.