The Yankee Group has potentially cursed us all and marked the end of cheap, carrier subsidized smartphones.  They think that the subsidizing of smartphones is proving to be too expensive to the carriers.

T-Mobile has alluded to this turn earlier this year by introducing their “Even More Plus” plans that offered no subsidies, and no contracts.  This is a plan that T-Mobile has introduced in order to pick up new customers at a lower cost to them due to the lack of the high costs of device subsidizing.  This allows customers to be able to come and go from the T-Mobile network as they please with whatever GSM devices that are compatible with T-Mobile’s network in tow.

"In 2008 we saw a wave of unlimited $99 plans for voice and data crop up and the rest of the industry soon followed suit," says Yankee Group analyst Christopher Collins. “We think the T-Mobile plan is the first major plan that will start an industry trend of no-subsidy, no-contract plans."

We spoke of where the money that the carrier dishes out up front earlier this week, and that they are able to make the money that they front the customer initially twice over after the end of 2-year contracts while carrying a data plans.

I am not sure that I agree with the Yankees on this one.  While I would love to be able to bounce from carrier to carrier and not be locked into a 2-year contract, I think that not having to take a $550 shot in the wallet makes me a little more apt to spend my money a little at a time instead of all up front.  I think that the ability to bounce around and not get any form of discount on phones will not inspire any form of brand loyalty among consumers.  Let us hope that the telecoms will still give us a loan for that shiny new piece of plastic in our pockets for at least another year, because I have a 10 months left until they will buy me a new phone.