February 20th, 2012 by Arjan Olsder Posted in Marketing Strategies | No Comments »
Dutch operator KPN holds three major mobile network labels in The Netherlands. With their Hi brand (aimed at the smartphone demographic), KPN has not only decided to ditch the internet restrictions, but also allows consumers to lease their smartphones.
All new Hi subscriptions will come with free mobile internet, though capped at 32kbps. T-Mobile NL does the same, but capping the connection at 64kbps. To make money from mobile internet, consumers simply buy a monthly amount of data at a certain speed. Also, consumers are no longer required to purchase big volumes of call minutes or SMS messages to match their data consumption.
To facilitate smartphone adoption, it will be possible to lease a phone instead of purchasing it. The monthly charge will go up, but when a contract ends, consumers can choose to purchase the device at the leftover value, or pick a new one.
