And we thought that $99.99 at Sprint was a deal! Wal-Mart’s online wireless store has the Palm Pixi up for pre-order at a frightening low price: $29.99 for new contract customers. What would set you back $200 out-the-door (less a $100 mail-in-rebate) at a Sprint store is only $30 at Wal-Mart. As we said, this is for new contract customers only, with a contract renewal Pixi costing a hefty $249.99, and off-contract weighing in at $499.99. Wal-Mart Wireless lists the Pixi for pre-order and as having an estimated in-stock date of November 24th, while Sprint stores and affiliates like Best Buy and The Shack can expect to have it on the 15th, this coming Sunday.
Thanks to Shadow-360 for the tip!
Comments
If this is true, I think its a good way to attract customers to WebOS. I hope it doesn't steal from Pre sales.
wow.....what a price point.....
So low that it cries out low quality?
If you're about to sign a commitment of $2000+ for two years of wireless communication with guy wearing a WalMart smock, is quality really on your mind?
That thinking is so bull when it comes to any other country then the good ol' US of A. The Pre is free on a very similar price in the UK to what we can get on Sprint.
Is there any way to buy at Walmart as an add a line?
During the order process, there's a tab in the "select a plan" section that says "add a line to an existing plan" (or something like that). When I follow that path, the pixi becomes $199.99. It appears that the only way to get the $29.99 price is if you are starting a brand new contract altogether.
I'd like to be wrong about this. If someone knows how to make it work where you can add the phone to a plan, I'd be interested in knowing how you did it.
well, one workaround would be to make a new account, then go back a month later (after you get your rebate) and merge the two accounts. i'm not sure how this would work, but I know Sprint allows you to merge accounts - it essentially amounts to one person signing some documents saying they are willing to now be liable for the balance of the other person's contract. but since Sprint now lets you change plans without extending your contract, if you wanted the pixi as an add-on, this would work (just a little extra cost for the individual plan for the first month or so before you merge the accounts). Besides the (obvious) ethical questions (you really arent a new account), this seems like it should work. thoughts?
You'd have to get the second account (the new one that will get the $30 Pixi) in someone else's name.
That's the only thing you're not catching. It can't be in your name, because Sprint only offers one account per account holder. But still, the rest is the same... your friend or family member TOLs you the line, you do a number "flip-flop" on plans (*not* an ESN swap of phones), then cancel the first line.
Good to go.
lol get a new account then heade right to the sprint store and merg in to your fam plan the contract will just follow the number that's how I got my pre for $49.99
+1 This may infer lesser quality. However, were seeing all kinds of pricing these days. Vodafone is offering the HTC HD2 with it's 1GHZ of SnapDragon goodness for FREE! It requires a new activation with data plan requirements of course. But FREE!
You gotta be kiddin me!
If the carriers want to sign customers to big-ticket data packages and take the lionshare of the market, they're gonna have to give the phones away the same way they did when cellular went mainstream.
AMEN. I've been talking about this at the SprintUsers forum. Sprint could make EVERY phone FREE by offering prorated ETFs with variable contract terms (months and max cost of ETF will be determined by phone cost & your credit rating)... and they should do it quick, before they go bankrupt.
FYI: This is not Walmart. This is LetsTalk.com / WireFly.com to whom most online vendors have outsourced their wireless stores to. I personally hate WireFly because of their 6 month delayed mail-in rebates (although this seems to be an instant discount).
That would matter if LetsTalk had a MIR for this $30 Pixi offer, but that's not the case. It's an *instant* discount...
even at this price see buying this over a pre, erois or whatever it's called. the $70 savings is nice but it's still too close to a pre with worse specs. and the real payment is in the data plan.
Yes, for the power user of the cell phone, those $70 come to a couple bucks a month for the full contract. The Pre makes more sense.
Read a little lower on that page and see the pixi's specs. Note specifically in the accessability category: "Voice Activated Dialing".
Retailer 'whoops' or un-announced feature?
http://walmart.letstalk.com/product/product.htm?prId=35990
Camera Resolution 2.0 megapixel
Camera Zoom Type Digital
Camera Flash No
Camera Lens Type CCD
Video Recorder Yes
Video Formats supported Not Available
Video Recording Length determined by available memory
Ummmm!!! Where's the pre's ZOOM!?? Where's the pre's video?!?
grrrrrr
Digital zoom is retarted. Crop the image to your liking later.
Optical zoom is what any sane person actually wants, but I'm not aware of any phone that has the thickness and other necessities to offer optical zoom. I'm sure there's one... somewhere... but I dunno about in the U.S.
You can't crop the image on the phone to send it to someone in a TXT or email -- it's tons easier to have a zoom feature on the phone, like camera phones from 5 years ago.
don't be mad cuz wal-mart gives out WRONG information. If you read the earlier post on the pixie review it doesn't mention any of the so called features that wal-mart claims. And for the camera, it does NOT have zoom but it DOES have flash. Haha, and people want to buy from this company? Sure, let me pay less for a phone but have a world of issues because lack of knowledge on how to properly setup an account.
i think the price move is stupid, it should be set at 99$ for renewal and for new customers, it means with a renewal or without a contract the pixi is more then the pre? but lacking in hardware? doesn't add up to me
Marketshare, marketshare, marketshare.
I bet you Palm will sell walmart the Pixie for an extended time at, or almost, cost, in return for them doing some deep discount promotions. Walmart gets a shiny phone to draw in the kids, Palm starts getting marketshare.
We know the Pre's got enough draw that Palm's marketshare is stabilized but they need some growth to inspire developers, keep investors, and prove their "fat middle" approach is a good plan.
I personally think they have the right idea. Sprint is actually turning out to be a good partner for their plans. They haven't been dissed for their network like ATT and haven't had any system failures like Tmobile. Their network is robust enough, fast enough, and big enough to deal with a significant influx of new users. And, like Palm, they are willing to sign on customers with low-cost plans to regain marketshare.
Once the Sprint exclusivity ends Palm needs to release unlocked GSM (and possibly CDMA) Pres and Pixies to allow people trapped on other networks to get in the game.
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