Best Buy; iPhone 5 release date here as Best Buy sets iPhone 4 free - free iPhone-a-thon (with two year contract, naturally)

Best Buy; iPhone 5 release date here as Best Buy sets iPhone 4 free - free iPhone-a-thon (with two year contract, naturally)

Best Buy; iPhone 5 release date here as Best Buy sets iPhone 4 free; Best Buy is giving older iPhones away, and Apple is allowing it. Actually, you missed it: the free iPhone-a-thon (with two year contract, naturally) was yesterday and it was only for the aging 3GS, with the flagship iPhone 4 still (for now) mostly holding its flagship price points. But the desire on the part of Apple to dump the inventory of the circa-2009 iPhone, which is still around as the bargain-bin model for now, to the point of actually invoking the word “free” shows just how close the iPhone 5 is. Apple had previously allowed AT&T to blow out refurbished iPhone models for nine dollars, but this represents the first Apple-approved foray into “free iPhone” territory. It’s a byproduct both of the increasing commoditization of the overall smartphone market and of the continued iPhone 5 delays, which have the iPhone 4 still in pole position for far longer than was expected or apparently intended. And it could be a sign of things to come, not just in terms of model numbers but their price tags as well. Read More