It’s been a hell of a fun few weeks amping up some of our most popular Un-carrier moves—making them even bigger, better and bolder. Today, I’m announcing the last of our summer “Un-carrier Amped” upgrades, and, if you love Apple, you are going to love this! Even better, today’s news is a two-parter. Yep, two fantastic moves at once!
But, before I get into the details, I’ve got to say this. The customer response to Un-carrier Amped has been phenomenal−with nearly 100,000 social mentions and 1.3 billion impressions the past few weeks, you guys have made this fun! 10Gigs4All is blowing the doors off – more than half of our new customers are choosing it. Hundreds of thousands of people are already getting three countries for the price of one with Mobile Without Borders -- this unprecedented new benefit is just blowing our customers’ minds—in the best way! And, don’t forget JUMP! On Demand. That news nearly broke my thumbs thanks to an overwhelming response to my #PhoneShame challenge on Twitter.
And what have the carriers been up to? While we’ve spent our summer giving customers more, the carriers have spent their summer taking more. While we take some of our wildly popular moves and make them even better, The Twins do what they do best—roll out more BS fees and half-assed, me-too offers. Verizon made it even more expensive to upgrade − and lowered prices for Mexico & Canada by a ridiculously small fraction of their fat margins. And AT&T? As one headline put it, “AT&T Invents an Absurd $15 Activation Fee” – enough said! Oh, and their CEO announced AT&T would be first to offer seamless coverage across the US and Mexico, but customers would have to wait 18 long months for real LTE south of the border. Turns out he was only half right.
Unbelievable. And they still wonder why their customers are flocking to the Un-carrier. Seriously, you can’t make the stuff they are doing up! It's ridiculous!
OK. Enough of that, let’s focus on our news of the day! To wrap up Un-carrier Amped, we decided to really double down with Apple. A great way to wind down Un-carrier Amped with a great partner! You can read all about it below – or hear all about it in my latest video blog.
Music Freedom gets amped with Apple Music
First, we’re amping up Un-carrier 6.0, Music Freedom and adding Apple Music to our list of 33 services that stream totally free on T-Mobile. Apple Music has become the single most requested new addition to Music Freedom and counts for a full 80% of the requests coming in via Twitter. I heard every one of them, so it’s happening right now!
Apple Music is a huge addition to Music Freedom. Millions and millions of people are already using Apple Music, and it’s set to shape the streaming music landscape—like Apple’s done with just about everything they touch. So we’re stoked to unleash Apple Music for T-Mobile Simple Choice customers.
This isn’t the first update we’ve made to Music Freedom—and it sure won’t be the last. Since June 2014, we’ve grown Music Freedom from 7 to 33 services—ranging from the biggest and most popular to the most niche. You can see a full list here. Music Freedom is open and free to every legal music streaming service out there. As I’ve said from the start, our goal is to set ALL your music free, and we won’t stop until we do. As of now, the services in Music Freedom cover 95% of all music streamed on mobile in the US. I’d call that a damn good start.
Not surprisingly, Music Freedom has been an enormous hit with Un-carrier customers. They now stream over 131 million songs every single day – up an amazing 275% from a year ago when we launched Music Freedom. If AT&T customers streamed that much music, they could be paying upwards of $2.3 billion a year - and that’s not even factoring in overage penalties. The other guys tax and toll every single note of every song you stream. So 39% of US wireless users we asked said they avoid streaming on their phones−over half because they worry about shock overages. So, again, the carriers’ obsession with bigger profits comes at the expense of their customers. Which is just plain stupid. Because we’ve shown the carriers a better way. They’re just too shortsighted to see it.
Upgrade your iPhone not your price
This next one is a big deal. We’re amping up what is already the industry’s best iPhone offer with the announcement of something entirely unprecedented. Because even the best isn’t enough if we can figure a way to make it even better.
When we introduced JUMP! On Demand a few weeks ago, we also introduced the industry’s best monthly cost for a new iPhone 6 16GB − $15 a month with trade-in − and the freedom to upgrade to a new phone whenever you want with absolutely nothing out-of-pocket. Customers told me they love the offer and total freedom to get their next iPhone whenever they want, but they also wanted more certainty when they upgrade.
I heard you. So, today, I’m announcing another industry-first.
This time of year, everyone’s waiting to make a move, waiting to see which devices are coming next. “Will the next one be better?” “Should I go for it or wait?” Today, we’re solving all that and ending the wait—in a big way. Now, every single customer who gets a new iPhone 6 this summer as part of this deal can simply swap it for the next iPhone, if they upgrade before the end of the year. Yeah, that's what I said. Just swap it out and pay NOTHING more—nothing up front and no change to your monthly payment. No deposit. No fees. Nothing. You get the next iPhone guaranteed. And you get to LOCK IN that industry-best promotional price of $15 a month.
And, because the Un-carrier always puts our current customers first, everyone who already got an iPhone 6 for $15 per month automatically gets this deal. You don’t have to do a thing, except come get your new one whenever you want later this year.
There’s nothing else out there remotely like this. Not even close. And, it lasts through Labor Day in participating T-Mobile stores nationwide.
To top it all off, I’m also announcing that we’re giving everyone who gets a new iPhone 6 with JUMP! On Demand something additional -- exclusive priority access to the next iPhone. That’s right. If there's a new iPhone this year, you're first in line. When you order your upgrade during the first 48 hours it’s available, we’ll give your order priority and ship it first, along with others who qualify for priority access. So you’ll be among the very first to get your brand new phone when we have inventory.
That’s the last of our summer Un-carrier Amped moves. But I am more committed than ever to listening, responding and working to fix this broken industry. We won’t stop making our Un-carrier moves better, because this isn’t just our revolution – it’s a genuine consumer movement. So keep making yourself heard and keep telling us what to fix. I’m listening.
Qual’g service, eligible device trade-in & upgrade req’d. Taxes & fees addit’l. $0 at signing + $15/mo for 18 mo. lease; price w/trade-in after monthly bill credits O.A.C. If you cancel wireless service, remaining payments at full rate become due. Device must be returned in good condition or purchase option exercised at cancellation or after 18 mos. No device security deposit. Upgrade by 12/31/2015. See details at T-Mobile.com