Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon COO Lowell McAdam confirmed that the Verizon iPhone will be offered with an unlimited data plan costing $30 per month. This move by Verizon is designed to entice AT&T customers who, unless they are grandfathered into an unlimited plan, can only choose from data plans that limit usage to 2 GB. “I’m not going to shoot myself in the foot,” says McAdam when talking about Verizon’s choice to offer an unlimited plan.
In what may be a controversial move, McAdam also confirmed that this unlimited plan will be a limited time offer. He did not say how long it will be available but the Wall Street Journal report suggests Verizon will move to tiered pricing in the “not so distant future.” This move contradicts a rumor out of Engadget that suggests Verizon was eliminating its tiered $15/150 MB plan. According to the rumor, Verizon was going to offer only an unlimited plan for its smartphones.
This switch to unlimited and then back to tiered pricing may make sense when you consider the launch of Verizon’s LTE handsets. After an introductory period with unlimited data, the carrier may remove the unlimited option and re-introduce a new series of tiered data plans. The timing of this change to a tiered pricing system may coincide with the launch of Verizon’s LTE smartphones in the upcoming months. The data plans for its LTE handsets have not been confirmed but rumors suggest Verizon will follow in the footsteps of AT&T and offer tiered plans when its LTE handsets make their retail debut.
[Via The Wall Street Journal]
