FreedomPop Aims To Disrupt Mobile Market By Selling Discounted LTE Tablets With Calling Capabilities
It's one thing to talk the talk, but when a company like FreedomPop starts walking the walk, it makes the competition nervous. FreedomPop's newest promotion should have wireless carriers sweating bullets -- the free mobile service company that already shook up the mobile industry by offering free voice, text, and data plans announced that it is now offering discounted LTE tablets, with a twist.
Not only do these tablets come with free data, they also include phone capabilities. Customers who sign up receive a unique phone number that they can associate with any FreedomPop tablet to make free calls and texts. According to FreedomPop, the reason larger carriers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile don't offer this same functionality is, in part, because of the potential to cannibalize high margin phone plans.
"The line between smartphones and tablets continues to blur," said Steven Sesar, FreedomPop Co-Founder and COO. "As a result, people want to use the device they’re most comfortable with, in a way that is most useful to them. We felt it was important to offer an expanded FreedomPop tablet experience by including telephony, and not just to enable calls but also for using apps like WhatsApp or Uber that require a device phone number to integrate seamlessly."
These aren't janky knock-off tablets, either. FreedomPop is offering Apple's iPad mini for $320 (down from $400) and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 for $200 (down from $280), both available in black or white. If you already own an LTE tablet, FreedomPop says you can bring it along and get the same 500MB of LTE data, 200 voice minutes, and 500 texts for free.
Game on, wireless carriers.
Not only do these tablets come with free data, they also include phone capabilities. Customers who sign up receive a unique phone number that they can associate with any FreedomPop tablet to make free calls and texts. According to FreedomPop, the reason larger carriers like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile don't offer this same functionality is, in part, because of the potential to cannibalize high margin phone plans.
"The line between smartphones and tablets continues to blur," said Steven Sesar, FreedomPop Co-Founder and COO. "As a result, people want to use the device they’re most comfortable with, in a way that is most useful to them. We felt it was important to offer an expanded FreedomPop tablet experience by including telephony, and not just to enable calls but also for using apps like WhatsApp or Uber that require a device phone number to integrate seamlessly."
These aren't janky knock-off tablets, either. FreedomPop is offering Apple's iPad mini for $320 (down from $400) and Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 for $200 (down from $280), both available in black or white. If you already own an LTE tablet, FreedomPop says you can bring it along and get the same 500MB of LTE data, 200 voice minutes, and 500 texts for free.
Game on, wireless carriers.
