Apple’s iconic iPhone continues to trickle down the carrier scale as Walmart announced that its Straight Talk Wireless offering will offer a pair of iPhone models sans-contract.
The retail giant said it will begin offering the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4 beginning Jan. 11, with the iPhone 5 retailing for $650 for the 16 GB model and iPhone 4 8 GB model selling for $450. Both prices are without contracts and can take advantage of Straight Talk’s $45 per month, unlimited voice, messaging and data service. The Straight Talk service is provided by Walmart in cooperation with Tracfone Wireless, which is owned by Latin American telecom giant America Movil.
Walmart noted that customers could also choose a no-interest, fixed-monthly payment option for either device at $25 per month if they used the Walmart credit card. That would require 18 payments for the iPhone 4 or 26 payments for the iPhone 5, a tough proposition for some as Apple tends to rollout new iPhone models every year or so. At those term lengths the iPhone 4, which was initially launched in mid-2010, could be four generations behind a new iPhone once it’s finally paid off.
Straight Talk, which was launched in early 2010, provides nationwide services as a mobile virtual network operator running across Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility’s networks. Walmart itself also offers a branded wireless service targeted at families that runs across T-Mobile USA’s network.
A handful of operators are currently offering Apple’s iPhone models without contracts. Leap Wireless began offering the iPhone 4 and 4S models last year for $400 and $500 respectively and compatible with its flat-rate, no contract service. That was followed quickly by Sprint Nextel’s Virgin Mobile USA prepaid division, which offered the iPhone 4 for $550 and the iPhone 4S for $650.
More recently, T-Mobile USA has begun trying to lure unlocked iPhone customers from AT&T Mobility with a no-contract offering compatible with its network reorganization plans. T-Mobile USA announced last month that it plans to begin officially carrying Apple products sometime in 2013.
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