Act fast: get a Pre for free after rebates 32
by Derek Kessler
Sun, 27 Sep 2009 9:36 pm EDT
Sun, 27 Sep 2009 9:36 pm EDT 
And you thought $79.99 for a Pre was a good deal. The folks over at Phone Cashback.net have teamed up with Wal-Mart/LetsTalk to make the deal even more sweet, with a not-instant rebate for the Pre that brings the price down to a paltry $0.00. The same accessory bundle is included in the deal. While Phone Cashback.net will be running their promotion until Wednesday, the freeness only comes when paired with Wal-Mart’s own $100 mail-in-rebate, which expires on Monday, and only applies to new contract orders. So if you’ve been waiting for the chance to jump to Sprint and grab a Pre, Monday may be your day.
32 Comments
Now the price cuts are getting a little out of hand........seriously. Makes me all pi$$y i spent so much more on mine.
wow!! thats a slap in the face to us who paid 200/300 on launch day!! i know price cuts happen but the damn thing hasn't even been out for 5 months yet!!!!! NOT FAIR!!
Well, Wallmart's involvement would have eliminated me anyway, but, yeah, this is getting crazy. At this pace, they're gonna have to PAY people to take a Pixi.
Well, Wallmart's involvement would have eliminated me anyway, but, yeah, this is getting crazy. At this pace, they're gonna have to PAY people to take a Pixi.
I would not be getting all huffy and puffy at Palm. This is Walmarts doing.
The Pre has been out for 3.5 months and has dropped 2 benjamins in price since then. I wish I paid "free-ninety-nine" but I should kick myself for being an early adopter. This reminds me of when the iPhone 1st gen dropped to $399. Is Sprint really having such a hard time selling this marvellous device? I want to rethink developing apps for it if that is the case.
The price drop might not mean they aren't selling. The iPhone was selling plenty when they dropped the price.
nb
Well, yeah, they aren't selling well enough. Palm sold 800,000 smartphones in the same time that Apple sold millions of iPhone 3G/3GS units.
Considering that as many as 300,000 of those units were Palm Centros and Treos... not the Pre, that means Apple is outselling Palm at least at a rate of 4:1.
Hence it's now free. The carriers know where the money can be made, adding $100 more to make the phone free isn't as serious as the $2,000 in revenue for a contract plan.
Oh the song and dance of early adopters doesn't stop. If you're kicking yourself over this stuff then you need to learn a thing or two.
x2
I don't see how I could be upset or take it personally like a "slap in the face". It's all part of the early adopter experience, guys. Price drops and a phone that's a little rough around the edges is to be expected.
Yeah, but what smartphone cost $199 initially and becomes $0 in less than 4 months?
Happens all the time. HTC phones do it like clockwork when online retailers get the go-ahead to price them as they see fit.
Really? Which HTC Flagship smartphone cost $199 (or higher) initially and went to $0 within 4 months?
THe TP2 is $350 on Sprint, and I bet you it will drop $150 in price pretty quickly.
I completely agree with you on dropping the TP2 to $150 within a few weeks. But we're talking about FREE ($0) here. I have no concern on lowering the price of either HTC or Palm phones, but having it free after a mere 3 months? I just think that's insane and unfair.
This is probably more of a promo for Walmart than anything. This is a cut in profit that walmart is taking so I don't see what the big deal is. If it help promote WebOS then I am all for it. So I dropped 200 on getting the phone early. Would do it again :)
This means nothing to the many, many people who upgraded a phone on an existing line instead of new customers.
We expect LetsTalk will offer some other rebate or extension after Monday.
We're not sure if it will keep things free... but we'll see what happens. We do encourage everyone to order as early as possible to lock the deal in.
- Christopher Price
PhoneNews.com & PhoneCashback.net
And folks upgrading can still lock in the Pre for as low as $55. The coupon codes and rebates are still valid in the link in the article for upgraders.
Wait, how can upgraders get it for $55? What coupon codes and rebates? What link? I looked but couldn't find... and it's probably right in front of my face.
/Kevin
The link into the article is to phonecashback.net. Just go to phonecashback.net and see the specifics of the deal there... it's the top item on that site.
Okay, that's where I went, but I don't see anyway for upgraders to get it for less than $299, so what am I missing? It says $79.99, but that's with a new plan. When I click 'Upgrade Your Phone' under 'For Current Sprint Customers', it jumps up to $299. What am I doing wrong?
/Kevin
You're not doing anything wrong that I can see, common. I, too, tried it both by clicking on the link to upgrading as well as simply clicking the link to buy the phone and then through the question process indicating that I already got service from Sprint. I ended up with the same $299 price in my cart.
It all seems kinda shady to me. Even if the Lets Talk people are on the up and up, you're still going to have to wait half a year for your rebate and be sure you're 100% up-to-date on your payments to Sprint.
Who knows what the price of the Pre will be come March 2010. That's when people, if they're lucky, will get their rebates. Seems like a nice way for Walmart to book revenue this quarter from whatever deal they get from Let's Talk and Let's Talk probably makes money simply from those people who screw up their complex rebate process.
This is awesome for the later arrivals. Early adopters can benefit by knowing that the smartphone will continue to grow in it's user base which can only be good for us as the worst thing is that we purchased and after a year the phone/OS does not get supported because of the lack of a user base. More developers will be building new applications, more usage, better applications as more requests for features, etc. Palm's WebOS is an incredible platform OS. We just need the applications and upgrades/bug fix patches to the WebOS.
If you haven't bought one, buy it by tomorrow!!!
I was wondering if this is a sign that we are going to have a new Pre model this next week or in a few more weeks? a 16GB model, maybe?
Geez, people.
Anyway, I paid $99 a piece for our Pr?'s and I'd do it again to have had it for 2 months before it became free, only by mail-in rebate, and only at some online site unfamiliar to me in name and policy.
It's not something I'm sweating. More power to whomever takes advantage of this.
i can't believe the phone is now free, blah, blah, blah, blah, the phone isn't selling, blah, blah, blah, blah, even if i go anywhere else it's still gonna be free blah, blah, blah, blah this has nothing to do with WALMART trying to get alot of people to sign up a contract with them blah, blah, blah, blah, this phone is now free FOREVER and we all have to get mad cause we got the phone early and paid $200 blah, blah, blah, blah
MOST of you guys are iDiots. Go get an iPhone or T-Mobile.
I am actually an iHater and would willingly give blood for Sprint if I had to. I bleed yellow.
Geez, people.
Anyway, I paid $99 a piece for our Pr?'s and I'd do it again to have had it for 2 months before it became free, only by mail-in rebate, and only at some online site unfamiliar to me in name and policy.
It's not something I'm sweating. More power to whomever takes advantage of this.
IMHO, this is all to push contracts and the pre is currently the most enticing thing to use for this. You don't see any price reductions on unlocked phones. AFAIK, Developers still cannot get phones for development without a contract at any price.
I don't see what people are whining about. I wasn't even up for contract renewal and these drops don't bother me one bit. I paid about $630 after all was said and done for this phone, and would do it again given the chance.
Anyone complaining clearly doesn't understand how this works.
I don't know why i can not figure out how to do this...i keep going round and round..lol