The New York Times, while pondering whether there is a “method in cellphone madness,” finds this behavior “weird.”
When Apple and AT&T started offering the iPhone for $199, plus $30 a month for Internet access, sales shot up, even though the previous deal — $399 for the phone and $20 a month — cost less over a two-year contract.
The $199 iPhone was the 3G model. Was the additional speed worth $40?
Gamblers in New Jersey who voluntarily ban themselves from casinos can’t take their name of the list. We thought this was exactly how the of program was supposed to work.
Using an ambulance to take someone to the emergency room for a minor ailment – like a headache – is costly. The Richmond Ambulance Authority was recently recognized for an innovative program that routes non-life-threatening calls to an emergency room nurse. Costs are down; ambulance trips are down; response time to real emergencies is down.
A cell phone service that lets you snap pictures of the food you eat, send them to a licensed nutritionist, who then responds with facts and advice about your choices.
For the last few years, AT&T has offered customers the ability to rollover unused minutes from one month to the following month (for up to 12 months). The company has advertised the service as a way help customers avoid paying extra charges in those months when they go over their plan’s minute allowance. By framing rollover as an insurance against future overages, the option seems to have the possibility for nudging people to buying one plan above what they think they might need on a monthly basis. The rollover frame suggests that unused minutes aren’t actually “lost.” They are actually “saved” to be used for a rainy day in the future. We bet AT&T knows the answer to this question. We wish they would give their data to a behavioral economist for some analysis.
Why not let cell phone customers buy used minutes from each other?
Here’s another idea for AT&T, or for any other interested cell phone company: Create a market where customers can buy unused rollover minutes from each other. Overage charges are a giant revenue source for cell phone companies, but they could advertise the internal minute market as a way to grow their customer base. And, of course, companies could charge a percentage fee for each exchange a la Ebay. Companies might consider putting some limits on the amount of minutes that could be purchased or sold by their customers.
Nudge blog 