Verizon debuts affordable unlimited plan
Verizon has launched a new affordable rate plan dubbed the Welcome Unlimited offering unlimited 4G and 5G (except mmWave support) data starting at $25/month for multi-line accounts of five or more lines. Four-line pricing is $30/month, which in some ways is more important as four-line pricing has become the standard marketing benchmark. The new Welcome Unlimited plan offers a $5 discount from Verizon’s previous entry-level (the 5G Start), though it excludes the 5GB/month mobile hotspot bucket that comes with the 5G Start plan. Notably, unlike Verizon’s older plans, which allow multi-line customers mix and match plans, the Welcome Unlimited plan requires all lines to be on the same plan to enjoy multi-line discounts ($65 for a single line, $55 for two lines, $40 for three lines, $30 for four lines and $25 for five lines or more). Finally, Welcome Unlimited customers are not offered any incentives on new phone purchases; instead, Verizon is offering a $240 gift card to Welcome Unlimited customers who bring their own phones along.
The NPD Take:
- Verizon’s new Welcome Unlimited plan is a major step in the right direction as the carrier has been behind rivals AT&T and T-Mobile in attracting new customers. However, the plan is still not as competitive as rival offerings; T-Mobile’s Essential entry-level plan offers larger and faster 5G coverage with unlimited mobile hotspot at 3G speeds for $105 for four lines (versus $120 via the Welcome Unlimited).
- Postpaid carriers’ discounted plan prices such as in the case with the Welcome Unlimited will put further pressure on prepaid brands and MVNOs who have seen an exodus of customers migrating the postpaid accounts in the last several years.
Nothing Phone 1 commercially debuts
A couple of weeks ago, we reported on OnePlus’ co-founder Carl Pei’s latest attempt, the Nothing phone, which got over 175K preorders during the pre-launch period despite no mention of the price at the time. Now we know more, after the phone’s commercial debut last week: it is priced at GBP399 (roughly $480) and almost immediately sold out. Notably, the Nothing Phone 1 will not be selling in the U.S. due to a lack of spectrum support.
As noted, before, the new phone offers mid-tier specs such as Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7-series chipset, though it stands out with its design and user interface, dubbed the Glyph. The Nothing Phone 1 has a transparent back cover, and it deploys a series of 900 LEDs that illuminate in various customizable ways for tasks and notifications such as battery charging bar progress, light notification while video recording, or ringtone/SMS animations.
The NPD Take:
- Nothing’s guerrilla marketing tactics and product supply strategy is highly reminiscent of those OnePlus, which utilized alternative marketing mediums and built hype by limiting supply. The new phone going out of stock in no time after the commercially debut (despite the 175K preorders) can be a result of Nothing the suppressing supply as in the case with the OnePlus phone debuts.