Beginning April 22nd, Verizon Wireless subscribers looking to upgrade to a new generation iPhone will be charged a $30 “upgrade fee.” And Verizon customers don’t seem to be happy about it, although no one expected the opposite to be true.
The nation’s largest wireless carrier tells Reuters that the surcharge will help the company “provide customers with the level of service and support they have come to expect.”
For now, market watchers don’t believe the added fee will drastically hamper iPhone sales. And through it all, the fees may add an additional $1 billion to Verizon’s annual bottom line.
While others in the mobile space commonly toss in unpopular upgrade charges too (Sprint Nextel, for example, adds a $36 upgrade fee), being popular seems of less interest to Verizon than being profitable.
And Verizon is clearly determined to see a bigger profit margin on iPhone sales than it is currently generating.
Will the new surcharge deter your upgrade to a newer iPhone?
