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Verizon’s “darling” status with iPhone users may quickly be coming to an end as a new report from Bloomberg cites Verizon’s Chief Financial Officer Fran Shammo saying unlimited data plans will no longer be available from the new iPhone carrier.
Current switchers can grab the $30 per month unlimited data plan for their iPhone 4, but that could all change shortly. The offering, which Shammo said was “not a long-term solution,” was likely just a marketing tool to entice the first wave of iPhone users to jump from AT&T, which currently does not offer an unlimited data plan.
Some users may see this as a “bait and switch” by Verizon, though considering the smartphone landscape, offering an unlimited data plan does not seem to maximize profits. Verizon will be switching to a tiered structure, much like the one that AT&T offers (currently $15 for 250Mb or $30 for 2Gb).
“We see the potential of our customer base spending in that $30 to $50 range,” Shammo said. “As smartphone prices come down, more people will be able to afford them. We have to get those customers a sufficient entry point. We’re still wrestling with what that entry point is.”
Translation: the money is in the data.
Reuters and the Wall Street Journal have follow-up reports stating that Verizon’s new pricing will take place in the middle of the summer, likely corresponding with Apple’s release of the iPhone 5.
“We will probably do that in the mid-summer time frame,” said Shammo, adding that initially Verizon, “didn’t want to put up a barrier” for new customers hoping to find a better network.
Would the lack of an unlimited data plan keep you from switching to Verizon this summer? Let me know in the comments below!
