NEW YORK (AP) — Virgin Mobile, one of Sprint’s brands for prepaid, no-contract phone service, says it will start selling the iPhone at the end of the month, charging $549 for a basic model.
The high price of the phone comes with an upside: service will start at $30 per month.
That means the phone, plus two years of service, will cost $1,269, excluding taxes. That’s about $1,000 less than most people pay on contract-based plans.
The iPhone has until recently been restricted to contract-based plans, with the phone companies subsidizing the cost of the phone down to $200 or so. Last week, Leap Wireless, another big no-contract carrier, said it would start selling the phone on June 22, starting at $400 and $55 per month.
