T-Mobile's parent company Deutsche Telekom wasted no time during its Thursday analyst presentation revealing major shake-ups were on the way for 2013.
Though the biggest news likely to come from the event is the announcement that T-Mobile will finally ge the iPhone, the company also announced a bold new sales initiative for the new year.
T-Mobile will switch to a 100 percent Value Plan sales model, which will allow customers to pick and choose their phones and plans without any subsidized costs contributing to the contract. A T-Mobile representative broke it down.
"With the Value Plan, you have the optino to bring your own device or get a device from T-Mobile with a low down payment and the remainder of the purchase price to be financed over a 20-month period with the Equipment Installment Plan (EIP)," Katie McFadzean told TechRadar.
Bring your own phone
The company didn't detail an exact date for the switch just yet, but coupled with the Apple deal, T-Mobile should find itself on better footing with consumers in 2013.
Consumers already under standard contracts with T-Mobile won't be forced to switch over to a Value Plan once the program goes into effect.
That said, T-Mobile indicated some 80 percent of its current sales are already Value Plans, and that 1.7 million users have also brought their iPhones from other carriers over to T-Mobile to use with a Value Plan.
Those 1.7 million consumers helped contribute to about 12 to 15 percent of all Value Plan customers who have brought their own phones to the carrier.
Under a Value Plan, users can choose to purchase a smartphone outright, or, as McFadzean pointed out, pay for it in installments over a 20-month period.
This longer EIP payment method also allows customers to upgrade their devices at any time, and earn a trade-in credit for the existing devices when switching.
More details on T-Mobile's Value Plans are expected to be revealed in the coming months.
