24 June 2009 12:59 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott
Pocket-lint readers aren't convinced by the growing need to sign up to 24-month phone contracts in order to secure the latest mobile, a recent reader poll has revealed, with 68% saying they are not prepared to commit that long.As consumer-aimed phones get smarter, they get more expensive, and enjoying as we do in the UK, a business model that means we expect to get a new handset for free on contract, something has to give.
So far, that something has been the length of contract operators are insisting customers sign up to in order to get their chosen handset for free.
"The latest smartphones are so expensive that the networks are prepared to take the initial hit on the price, confident in the knowledge that you have to stay loyal for the long haul", Ernest Doku of mobile phone comparison website, Omio.com, told Pocket-lint.
"We've certainly seen a real shift to longer term contracts as retailers now offer the latest and greatest mobiles for free, but only to those prepared to commit to an 18- or 24-month deal".
Doku says that 12-month contracts "have become an endangered species", while the focus, as far as attracting the punters goes, has shifted to free gifts, more minutes and texts or "cash back" to sweeten the long term deals.
"The fact that we have recently seen the UK's first 36-month contracts is certainly a sign of things to come", Doku says, referring to Orange's recent £5 a month tariff offered to those who will commit for a lengthy 3-year contractual term.
"Commitment-phobes who want the latest phones will be left out in the cold as this trend continues", Doku warns. Phones, Mobile phones, Mobile phone industry, Tariffs, Biz, Statistics, Surveys, Poll, Omio
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