US Phone Carriers’ Switch to Installment Plans = Quicker iPhone Upgrade Cycles

With big player Verizon now making the move to installment plans on smartphones from contract subsidies, a well-respected analyst says we could see quicker iPhone upgrade cycles. Appleinsider.com notes that Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray has crunched the numbers, and the switch to installment payments may net Apple an extra 2.9 million iPhone upgrades 3rd quarter, and 4.4 million 4th quarter. The installment plans drop the subsidy for a 2 year contract, and you just pay for the phone service, plus either buy the new phone outright…which almost no one does, or you have an installment payment rolled into your bill, and the carrier makes interest on you.

Facebook is building a Twitter-esque app that lets news providers send mobile breaking news alerts out en masse. The stand alone app is part of the Facebook for Business initiative. When it goes live, users can download the app and select what news providers or topics they want to follow for breaking news. The mobile alerts have 100 characters of text…40 less than Twitter…and a link to the article on the news provider’s website. Right now, the app won’t allow links to other sites…in other words, news organizations can’t just ‘reTweet’ another’s link.