T-Mobile US has continued its war against Verizon and AT&T by launching a new smartphone rental scheme, enthusiastically called “JUMP! On Demand”. Customers on the tariff can trade in their existing smartphone for a shiny new one up to three times a year.

Tim Skinner

June 26, 2015

2 Min Read
T-Mobile launches smartphone trade-up plan as Legere calls out Verizon

T-Mobile US has continued its war against Verizon and AT&T by launching a new smartphone rental scheme, enthusiastically called “JUMP! On Demand”. Customers on the tariff can trade in their existing smartphone for a shiny new one up to three times a year.

According to the telco, “Jump! On Demand” allows customers to trade in up to three smartphones every year. Animated T-Mobile US CEO John Legere calls it “completely uncarrier”, and says it’ll be wavering $10 monthly smartphone fees, and that customers won’t have to pay a penny to exchange their smartphone up to three times per year.

Legere delivered the news in his trademark video-blog fashion (or “vlog” for those short on time). The unrelenting CEO has never been coy about publicly calling out T-Mobile’s rivals, and his latest announcement began by having a pop at Verizon.

“I told you we’d be amping up some of our previous Uncarrier moves, and it’s time,” an excited Legere said. “We’ve launched nine uncarrier moves that have revolutionised this industry; and while AT&T and Verizon have tried to respond, they deliver half-assed knockoffs they don’t even stick with.”

“Hell, Verizon is going backwards and has broken every promise it has ever made with its bullshit upgrade programme.” he said. “They just don’t get it! It’s not that hard to figure out that customers want more flexibility and freedom, not less.”

In the two years since T-Mobile started its Uncarrier tariffs, the telco has slowly acquired more market share, and in the last quarter it overtook Sprint for the first time, according to Ovum’s WCIS. Stats show that it’s grown by around 2 points of market share since June 2013, while AT&T and Verizon have plateaued somewhat.

At present, Verizon owns 33.36% of the market, with AT&T close behind on 31.89%, and T-Mobile in third on 14.88%. Sprint sits marginally behind TMUS with 14.84%. Looking a little bit deeper at the market over the past 24 months, however, reveals that T-Mobile’s growth has mainly come from the long tail of the US telecoms market, with the market share of US Cellular, Cincinnati Bell and Leap Wireless all dwindling.

While the move by TMUS demonstrates its dedication at driving some tariff innovation into the mobile industry, which should always be praised, it seems that Legere is making it personal.

You can watch the entirety of Legere’s gesture-rich vlog here:

About the Author(s)

Tim Skinner

Tim is the features editor at Telecoms.com, focusing on the latest activity within the telecoms and technology industries – delivering dry and irreverent yet informative news and analysis features.

Tim is also host of weekly podcast A Week In Wireless, where the editorial team from Telecoms.com and their industry mates get together every now and then and have a giggle about what’s going on in the industry.

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