Apple bribes Android and Windows Phone users to switch to iPhone

Apple may be about to launch a new phone trade-in program in a bid to encourage more people to invest in iPhones. Hand over your old Windows Phone, Android handset -- or even a BlackBerry or aged iPhone -- and you could receive a gift card that can be used as part payment for an iPhone. The news comes from the usually-reliable 9to5Mac where it is suggested that Apple Store employees will place a value on handsets before handing over a gift card in exchange for it.

It's not a completely new venture for Apple; the company has previously run programs to encourage iPhone users to upgrade to the latest version of the handset, but this will be the first time the scheme has been opened up to rival smartphones. While previously this was an incentive to upgrade, this time around it's little more than a bribe.

For many people, choosing a mobile is comparable to one's religion (or lack of thereof) or support for a particular football team. It’s a choice that makes perfect sense to an individual, and can often be difficult to get non-believers to understand. Will a gift card be enough to move people away from their previous handset of choice? Could you be bribed into switch allegiances?

Are things really so desperate at Apple that there's a need to, essentially, pay people to use iPhones? Of course there is no guarantee that the gift card offerings will be a good deal. With countless mobile recycling schemes operating around the world, and sites such as eBay and Gumtree providing access to a market of people willing to pay top dollar for handsets, can Apple expect to compete?

We already know that Android dominates the mobile market. Apple is very comfortably in second place, but it must hurt to see Google performing so well. It hurts so much that the company is willing to resort to bribery in an attempt to grab itself a larger user base. It's a cheap move from a company that would like you to think that it is anything but.

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