Verizon's Pixi Plus drops to free on contract

Say what you will about the Pixi Plus; it may not be the best smartphone in the world, and heck, it might not even be the best webOS device on the block. But you know what? When your net cash outlay is a big, fat zero, it's pretty tough to argue -- especially when you've got dumbphones running $20, $50, $100, or even more. On that note, Verizon dropped the Pixi Plus from $30 to $0 on contract after rebate this week, which makes a pretty compelling case for the thing -- if nothing else, you could just use it for its free mobile hotspot service and pay $50 less upfront than you do for a MiFi (granted, you'll be paying more month to month, but... you know, you've got an actual phone). Now, here's our question: with this kind of insane price pressure, what comes next after free?

[CoolBradG Posted May 13th 2010 12:33AM]

They're so desperate, next it will be: Buy a Palm Pre for $0, receive a $30 gift card.

[jellotime91 Posted May 13th 2010 3:34AM]

@CoolBradG
yep... It's a pretty sad state they're in. One of the most sophisticated mobile OSes bogged down by lackluster hardware and even worse marketing.

[krisken Posted May 13th 2010 1:36AM]

I don't think it will make one bit of difference as long as verizon has their bogo offer going on smartphones (not including the incredible). While Palms selection may be compelling in their own right, the quality products will sell themselves regardless of pricepoints

[JJR Posted May 13th 2010 7:34AM]

is the $30 data charge still required for this phone?

[LowSky Posted May 13th 2010 12:11PM]

@JJR YES

[xdreamer Posted May 13th 2010 9:49AM]

So now the Pre Plus in infinitely more expensive! Finally the pixi is a good deal!

[dtptampa Posted May 13th 2010 4:39PM]

@xdreamer what?! That's crazy. Let's see using some math:

price of the Pre over the price of the Pixi
so we have $49.99/$0.00
which simplifies to 49.99/0

wait, oh shi-

[xdreamer Posted May 13th 2010 9:52AM]

Now the Pre is infinitely more expensive. Finally the pixi is a good deal!

[normanhart Posted May 13th 2010 10:10AM]

I would get this if it weren't 90 a month for a smartphone on verizon.

[LowSky Posted May 13th 2010 12:13PM]

I'm thinking Verizon might be trying out how popular tethering is on the Palm phones, due to Google's newest Android release that will have the feature built in.

[(Unverified) Posted May 13th 2010 12:24PM]

So if you are using this Free Mobile Hotspot service for 5 devices, what happens when you have you and 4 friends online downloading/gaming/streaming media/uploading a term paper/etc and you get a phone call...

M@

[krisken Posted May 13th 2010 3:10PM]

@(Unverified) you blame the reason you died on the lag. Reminds me of Counter Strike back in high school.