Don't be surprised if one of these days AT&T announces that it will no longer subsidize smartphones.
Speaking at an investor conference in New York, AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said that the era of device subsidies is coming to an end, according to CNET.
Stephenson said smartphone penetration is at more than 75% and will soon reach 90% of all customers. That makes subsidizing a smartphone every two years for all those customers an expensive task that Stephenson doesn't think his company can afford to do.
"When you're growing the business initially, you have to do aggressive device subsidies to get people on the network," Stephenson said, according to CNET. "But as you approach 90% penetration, you move into maintenance mode. That means more device upgrades. And the model has to change. You can't afford to subsidize devices like that."
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-att-subsidies-end-20131211,0,7375767.story#axzz2nCZRv9sG
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