Bloomberg has report that Apple is working with Brightstar to handle the trade-in program. Obviously, the aim will be to take the trade-ins and then redistribute those older models in emerging markets likely in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.
What investors need to know is that this may not exactly be a huge boom for Apple. For starters, some credits have been offered from time to time by AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) or by resellers and marketers who have licenses to sell iPhones and other smartphones for those carriers. T-Mobile USA (NYSE: TMUS) has also had credits and trade-ins.
As far as whether or not the trade-in policy will work, some iPhone users keep their old phones as their backup iPhone. If you have ever lost or dropped your smartphone to where the glass broke or to where the phone is ruined you understand why. Many consumers choose to not buy the insurance offered for the iPhone because it is expensive, and keeping a backup of your prior iPhone may prove to be good enough.
The good news is that Apple will likely at least see some benefits from the trade-in program. Its growth has been slowing and analysts are looking for any new methods to increase the quarterly iPhone unit sales routinely. The Bloomberg article does include some of those upside projections, but we will leave that up to you.
Investors are so far underwhelmed about the news as Apple shares are down 1.5% at $438.60 against a 52-week trading range of $385.10 to $705.07.
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