No calm down it’s not what you think! Yet again Microsoft is offering money off for used Apple products as they try to tempt consumers to their products. Whilst this deal appears to be focused on the US marketplace at the moment if successful then we could see it make its way over here. But just what are you getting for your old ’gently used’ fruity product? Well $200 gift card for use in the Microsoft store for an iPhone 4S or iPhone 5 but could you not get that in real money using a secondhand website that buys old phones?
This most recent offer follows on the heels of a similar offer that revolved around the iPad with a promise to give a minimum of a $200 gift voucher for again ’gently used’ iPads. If you were already intending to sell you Apple product to help fund a new piece of Microsoft hardware then great but why would you? The Surface tablet has been to all intents and purposes a failure with extremely poor sales figures resulting in a rather large write down. The Surface 2 is supposed to becoming so why not wait until then if you really want a Microsoft tablet but this new offer seems to be focused on getting consumers to pick up the Nokia Lumia 1020.
A nice phone? Yes but with 70% of iPhone users when asked were very satisfied with their handset and 54% of Samsung smartphone owners were also happy. So why switch from handsets they are very happy with for a $200 gift card for a phone that has yet to get stunning reviews? Well if your contract is coming up for renewal anyway you might fancy something different if you are bored of your iPhone – it’s what I did, hello HTC One – so that might or might not work. Not everyone is that happy with just how much Apple assumes about your personal information it can use or setting it can change on your behalf – Where you even asked if you wanted to use iMessenger? But the main selling point for the new Nokia is its camera – why not just save some money and buy a proper camera and stick with the phone/tablet you already love and know how to use?
Who knows what Microsoft are going to do with all of these hundreds of handset and iPads they are going to be inundated with (!?) they can’t sell them to consumers themselves so perhaps it’s a clever way of getting their staff quality handsets and tablets to use in the office rather than try to persevere with the Surface tablet they are forced to use!?
