14 DAY TRIAL // Apple today started offering its trade-in services in France, where iPhone users can turn in their old model for a newer version, like an iPhone 5c or an iPhone 5s. The program has proved successful and Apple once said it considered it a “mega trend.”
An iPhone 4S owner can get back as much as $400 (€290) for their handset with Apple’s Reuse and Recycling program, which basically gives the user credit to use towards the purchase of a newer model.
The service was unveiled last year when Apple was training retail staffers to recommend the program to customers and serve them based on the rules of the offer.
At the time, the Cupertino giant said, “The iPhone Reuse and Recycling Program offers customers an affordable way to upgrade to a new iPhone by getting a store credit based on the value of their current, working iPhone.”
That’s right, your iPhone has to be in good working order before you trade it in for a new model. But if your handset doesn’t work anymore, you can still give it to Apple knowing that it will be disposed of properly.
“The offer applies to both consumer and business customers who choose to activate a new iPhone. It alsoi allows customers with non-working iPhones to recycle their phones in an environmentally responsible way,” reads the documentation handed out to retail staffers.
According to sources throughout Europe, Apple is now offering the trade-in program to customers in France, and it will soon expand its offerings to Canadian customers as well. The program was originally deployed in the United States in late August 2013.
After learning of the program’s success, in November 2013 the Cupertino giant issued job openings Reuse (Trade-In) Worldwide Program Managers to manage global reuse programs for the Apple online store, the Education and Retail departments, and the Reseller Channel.
At the time, the company called the trade-in program a “mega trend,” and justified its hirings as for “keeping Apple on the leading edge.”
One of the applicants’ objectives was to offer customers “an amazing and delightful experience throughout their Reuse and Recycling experience by ensuring competitive values for their reusable equipment thereby extending the useful life of the equipment by support of the highest form of recycling, reuse.”
Apple also offers a program where participants can even get an iTunes Gift Card in exchange for dumping their old hardware at Apple for recycling.