O2 UK launched a leasing programme for smartphones, allowing consumers and small businesses to get awesome devices at no upfront cost, and pay a higher monthly fee to lease the phone for a year.
Available initially through O2 stores and over the phone, O2 Lease costs 55 GBP per month and that money includes insurance, 750 minutes, unlimited text and 500 MB of data per month.
Under the scheme, the customer doesn’t own the phone during the terms of the lease. At the end of the contract, there’s an option to return the phone to O2 and take a new one with a new lease, or move to another O2 contract, or move on.
According to the carrier’s marketing and consumer director Sally Cowdry, this is the first time a UK mobile operator has adopted a leasing model. “We know that customers and small businesses are used to leasing everyday items from cars and washing machines to photocopiers and office space. They understand how it works and what the advantages of a leasing are. We have simply taken this idea and applied it to the smartphone market,” she added.
[Via: Cellular-News]