American public telecommunications company Leap Wireless will begin selling Apple’s iPhone from next month. This will make it the first pre-paid carrier to offer the famous device in the US.
Moreover, this will increase the reach of the popular device for Apple and also brings a marquee product to Leap’s Cricket service which has seen a slow customer growth. The company will be offering the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4 with the $55 per month wireless plan which will begin on June 22, 2012.
The company will be selling the 16 gigabyte iPhone 4S for $499.99 and the older gigabyte iPhone 4 for $399.99. The prices are higher than offered by the other larger carriers that require the subscribers to sign a two year old contract in exchange for the subsidy which covers a portion of the phone’s cost.
The telecom operator AT&T offers a comparable iPhone 4 for $99.99 and Verizon Wireless sells a similar iPhone 4S for $199.99. Analyst Philip Cusick estimated that Leap will subsidise each iPhone by $100 to $125which is above typical $50 to $100 smartphone subsidy. The iPhones will also come with a $55 per month with unlimited talk, text as well as data plan.
