At Netflix' earnings call today, the company announced that it plans to raise its plan pricing by "one or two dollars" for new customers. Existing customers will keep their old rate for "a generous time period," but eventually the rate will probably apply to everyone. Read more here.
Target has significantly expanded its subscription-based e-commerce service, first launched last fall as a response to Amazon’s popular “Subscribe and Save” program, by increasing the number of online items available for subscription purchase from just 200 to now 1,500. While the company’s original focus was on baby-care items, the now revamped service offers similar savings for other everyday purchases, including cleaning supplies, health and beauty aids, pet treats and training pads, grocery items, home and offices supplies, and more.
The Minneapolis-headquartered retailer first debuted “Target Subscriptions” as a pilot program in September, with just 150 items related to baby-care, like diapers, wipes, training pants, and other regular purchases designed to appeal to new parents. Customers were able to order these items to be delivered in four, six, eight, ten and twelve-week installments, but unlike with competitor Amazon, there was not an additional savings for ordering on a subscription basis at the time of launch.
That has now changed.
Previously, customers were offered free shipping, and those paying with the Target card or Target VISA could save an additional 5 percent on purchases. Those programs remain in place today, but now the retailer is offering an additional 5 percent discount on all subscriptions orders. That means those paying with their Target cards could save a total of 10 percent on their orders while also not paying shipping.
In addition, some items have extra savings attached to them on a promotional basis – for instance, a special offer found on several items across the site (like this Tide detergent, e.g.) is promising a $10 gift card to those buying three items from the “Household” category. The move is likely meant to encourage users to sign up for regular shipments, which, over time, would be worth more to the company than the initial $10 loss.
Target also tells us that the subscriptions service grew quickly after its initial launch, and now accounts for more than 15% of online sales for eligible items. To be clear, that’s not 15 percent of total sales, but 15 percent of the eligible items’ sales on Target.com.
The company declined to break out its online sales figures, however.
Target also last fall introduced a pick-up program, similar to other online retailers including large competitor Wal-Mart, which allows shoppers to buy online and then pick-up at the store. That program began with 35,000 items and has since grown to 60,000, and now accounts for 10 percent of Target’s online business.
Yesterday T-Mobile announced its new $40 Simple Starter plan, kicking off a three-day series of uncarrier announcements. For round 2, today T-Mobile unveiled that it will be introducing a new initiative called “Tablet Freedom”. Simply put, Tablet Freedom is about bringing cellular connections to your tablet as cheap as possible.
T-Mobile plans to do this is a few ways: First, it is now offering all of its 4G LTE capable tablets for the same price as you’ll find their Wi-Fi counterparts. Second, any newly purchased tablet will get an additional 1GB free data each month, combined with the 200MB free data you already get for tablet devices. T-Mobile’s press release also includes a few other points related to trading in your existing Wi-Fi tablet, participating in the Jump program and their commitment to paying off your ETFs.
T-Mobile’s Tablet Freedom program will officially go into effect the same day as its Starter plan, April 12th. Now we’re just left wondering what tomorrow’s announcement will bring. What do you think of the new Tablet Freedom initiative? Anyone tempted to pick up a tablet via T-Mobile?
Show Press Release
“With this announcement, T-Mobile’s launching a full-on assault against the restrictions and pain points that keep tablet owners from experiencing life beyond the Wi-Fi zone,” said John Legere, president and CEO of T-Mobile. “The Un-carrier is all about solving pain points, and today we’re eliminating every reason to be stuck on an unconnected Wi-Fi-only tablet. There’s no longer any need to limit the use of your tablet because you’re intimidated by Big Blue, Bad Red or Bumbling Yellow.”
First, cellular-enabled 4G LTE tablets are more expensive than Wi-Fi-only models. Second, even if you’ve put down the extra money for that cellular-enabled tablet, committing to a long-term data plan for it can be pretty intimidating. And, finally, most people with tablets are stuck with their old Wi-Fi only model, and those who do have cellular models are often stuck in overpriced carrier contracts.
Today the vast majority of American tablet owners are stuck on Wi-Fi or stuck in carrier contracts. That’s about to change.
If you’re stuck on Wi-Fi, you can now come to T-Mobile and upgrade to a 4G LTE-enabled model for nothing down and pay no more than you’d pay for the cheaper Wi-Fi-only model, with any postpaid activation on a 1GB or more mobile internet plan with no annual service contract. For example, pay the Wi-Fi price of $499 instead of $630 for the 4G LTE-enabled 16GB iPad Air. Or pay the Wi-Fi price of $200 instead of $312 for the 4G LTE Samsung Tab 3. Voice customers adding the 1GB tablet plan for free for the rest of 2014 also fully qualify for these reduced prices.
If you’re stuck in a contract with your old carrier, the Un-carrier will pay every penny of your early termination fees (ETFs) when you make the switch to T-Mobile. Just bring in your tablets to receive an instant credit based on their value. Then purchase any tablet at the new lower same-as-Wi-Fi prices. Customers may even qualify for zero down financing with 24 monthly payments. After receiving the final bill from your old carrier showing your ETFs, just mail it in or upload it to www.switch2tmobile.com. T-Mobile then sends an additional payment covering every last penny of those fees.
And, for both new and existing customers, T-Mobile is offering $10 off its most popular internet data plans starting April 12th through the end of 2014. For voice customers, what that means is you can get up to 1GB of 4G LTE data free every month through the end of the year. Combined with the 200 MB of free data you already automatically get every month with T-Mobile’s previously announced “Free Data for Life” offer that comes to nearly 1.2GB of free 4G LTE data every month through the end of 2014. If you love living beyond the Wi-Fi zone – and want to keep enjoying that tablet freedom beyond 2014 – you can get it starting at just $10 a month with voice service next year.
And whether you are an individual or small business customer, you can take advantage of all of the above plus enjoy all the benefits of our Simple Choice plan with no annual service contracts, no overage charges while on T-Mobile’s lightning fast network, no upgrade hassles with T-Mobile’s revolutionary JUMP!™ program, and with “the world as your network at no extra charge”.
“Starting right now, you can live life beyond the Wi-Fi zone and stay connected. Use your tablet virtually anywhere, anytime you want without fear,” said Mike Sievert, Chief Marketing Officer for T-Mobile. “In an era when tablets are outselling PC’s, this new 4G LTE tablet offer at Wi-Fi only prices, coupled with nearly 1.2GB data for the rest of this year, we’re removing every reason that would keep you from getting your first tablet or trading in your old one right now at T-Mobile.”
Today on Amazon, get a new case for the phone of your choice for just $5. Several popular phones are available, often in multiple colors and varieties.
Prepare yourself for the next big natural disaster/zombie apocalypse/tailgate with great deals on gas generators, today only on Woot.
This AmazonBasics Bluetooth keyboard has great reviews, will pair with your computer, phone, or tablet, and it's only $19 today. Compared to Logitech's $46 Bluetooth tablet keyboard, that's an absolute steal.
iOS users in particular will appreciate the Home, Spotlight, and on-screen keyboard function keys, but everyone can enjoy a wireless keyboard without an easily-lost USB dongle.
The faux leather might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's hard to deny that the new Samsung Chromebook has great specs, and you can preorder yours now to lock in a low-price guarantee. Personally, I'd spring for the 13" model with a 1080p screen; that's virtually unheard of in the Chromebook world.
Mac users who don't want to shell out for a Creative Cloud subscription have some great indie Photoshop alternatives available, and one of the best is on sale for $15 today (normally $50). Acorn can work with PSD files and will handle most light to medium editing tasks you throw at it.
Best Buy is running a very cool promotion that bundles a Logitech G Series mouse, keyboard, headset, and mousepad together for just 70 bucks. It's a sweet, very cheap deal for those looking to jump into the dedicated gaming peripheral space or anyone whose gear is getting old. These are quality products, and step-down versions of your favorite peripherals from our Co-Op series. [Best Buy]
Whether you get your games from PSN, Xbox Live, Steam, Nintendo's eShop, iTunes, or even Origin, Best Buy has discounted gift cards available for you today.
Update: Xbox users can actually get a better deal through Newegg. Promo code BTEPFPC47 will take 20% off any denomination of gift card. Thanks VelociGanesh!
You don't have to drive through April showers with your old, crappy wiper blades. Today on Amazon, get a new set for only $20. That deal includes Valeo's ULTIMATE series, which often retail at over $20 for just one.
Note: Wiper blades must be shipped and sold by Amazon to be eligible. Some are backordered, so you may need to select Amazon manually from available sellers.
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Prices for the Gear 2 and Gear Fit were announced today, but we have yet to hear one for the Gear 2 Neo. You can get the newer version of Gear fo 295 USD, while the Fit is going for 197 USD. Not only did they reveal these prices, they’ve published a video boasting about their design skills.
© Samsung/AndroidPITSamsung isn’t known for coming up with the most of innovative designs, if anything they create devices that will please the masses and are sure to sell. I have to say I like the Gear Fit design, though still find the Gear to be too bulky and the arrival of the Motorola Moto 360 actually a welcome change. It also makes us wonder if square vs round shapes are the future of smartwatches.
© AndroidPITA few days ago, Samsung made the SDK available for developers to create their apps for the Gear 2, which runs their Tizen-based OS. These devices will hit stores as of next month.
Here is Samsung's video on design:
Link to video
If you are eager to get your hands on Samsung’s latest set of wearables, the good news is that we now know how much two of these devices will cost.
Speaking in Taiwan on Wednesday, Samsung Electronics announced that its latest Gear 2 smartwatch and Gear Fit fitness tracker will be priced at $295 and $197, respectively. These two prices were later confirmed by Samsung officials in Korea as well. This will disappoint those who were hoping for a more competitive price point from Samsung’s 2nd generation smartwatch. One of the most common complaints levelled at the original Gear was its expensive $299 launch price tag.
The price for Samsung’s more budget oriented smartwatch, the Gear Neo, has not yet been announced, but it’s not unreasonable to assume that the product will be priced between the Gear 2 and the Fit. Somewhere around $250 is probably a reasonable expectation.
Samsung has also confirmed that the Gear 2 and Gear Fit are both scheduled for an April 11th worldwide release, which is the same day that the company’s new flagship Galaxy S5 goes on sales in 130 countries around the world.
As Samsung is maintaining a premium price point for its Gear 2 smartwatch and Gear Fit, and considering how cheap its competitor’s devices are, there’s a real risk that Samsung’s wearables are simply too expensive to appeal to a wide range of consumers. With the unveiling of the new Moto 360 to consider as well, has Samsung done enough to tempt you with its new line-up of wearables?
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