In a move that I firmly believe has been a long time coming, T-Mobile sent out an alert this morning informing employees that they were stopping Classic Plans at national retailers. Unfortunately, the image doesn’t say what is forthcoming for the company’s national retail partners, but I imagine this may have something to do with the third phase of T-Mobile’s Uncarrier plan. I for one hope that national retailers will begin selling T-Mobile handsets under the no-contract Simple Choice options, an option currently available only through T-Mobile company-owned channels.
Seeing this image jogged my memory about a story posted back in early April where Best Buy informed their staff that T-Mobile’s Simple Choice plans would be available by the “end of the fiscal year at Best Buy.” According to Best Buy’s investor page that’s not until February of next year, but it’s likely T-Mobile could have accelerated their efforts to allow national retailers to sell no-contract plans before the holidays.
As of today, September 30th, national retailers will begin sending in their allocated postpaid inventory to T-Mobile. Retail and branded locations will then “support any national retailer customer device exchanges during the 30-day device return window with original device purchase receipt.” Any buyers remorse transactions will be performed at the original point of sale.
So, will this move play an upcoming part in T-Mobile’s Uncarrier Phase 3 expected to launch before the end of October? That’s very possible and perhaps even likely, but this is still some pretty big news as T-Mobile has big partnerships with retailers like Walmart, Sam’s Club and BestBuy.com that I’m sure they aren’t interested in losing altogether. Let’s hope this is just the first part of T-Mobile’s Simple Choice no-contract offerings making their way into sales channels that aren’t company owned.