1:45 PM Bought a Verizon Android and now have iPhone envy? Big Red will give you $200 to ease the pain

Sarah Thomas, Director, Women in Comms

January 18, 2011

1 Min Read
Verizon Soothes Non-iPhone Buyers' Remorse

1:45 PM -- Verizon Wireless has sweetened its return policy for those subscribers who purchased a smart phone but now want the iPhone instead. Under the new terms, if you bought a phone from Verizon between Thanksgiving and the holiday known as "Verizon iPhone 4 day," you get a debit card worth $200 to put toward a full-priced iPhone.

And those full-price phones will cost $649.99 for the 16GB version and $749.99 for the 32GB model, Verizon confirmed in a quiet update to its FAQ page. iPhones on contract will cost $199.99 or $299.99 for the 16GB and 32GB versions, respectively.

Light Reading Editor-in-Chief Phil Harvey and I discussed Verizon's return policy, and the number of angry customers that recently purchased non-iPhones in desperation, in a podcast found here.

Verizon's new policy will appease this group, although the non-contract prices probably won't. More importantly, however, it shows where Big Red is placing its bets, much to Android's dismay. (See Verizon's iPhone: Angst for Android.)

— Sarah Reedy, Senior Reporter, Light Reading Mobile

About the Author(s)

Sarah Thomas

Director, Women in Comms

Sarah Thomas's love affair with communications began in 2003 when she bought her first cellphone, a pink RAZR, which she duly "bedazzled" with the help of superglue and her dad.

She joined the editorial staff at Light Reading in 2010 and has been covering mobile technologies ever since. Sarah got her start covering telecom in 2007 at Telephony, later Connected Planet, may it rest in peace. Her non-telecom work experience includes a brief foray into public relations at Fleishman-Hillard (her cussin' upset the clients) and a hodge-podge of internships, including spells at Ingram's (Kansas City's business magazine), American Spa magazine (where she was Chief Hot-Tub Correspondent), and the tweens' quiz bible, QuizFest, in NYC.

As Editorial Operations Director, a role she took on in January 2015, Sarah is responsible for the day-to-day management of the non-news content elements on Light Reading.

Sarah received her Bachelor's in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She lives in Chicago with her 3DTV, her iPad and a drawer full of smartphone cords.

Away from the world of telecom journalism, Sarah likes to dabble in monster truck racing, becoming part of Team Bigfoot in 2009.

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