Moreover, the Staples move into this recommerce market is just another example of how the mobile industry is transforming; it is moving away from a throw away mindset to one that extends the device lifecycle. It makes financial sense. Secondary markets overseas are eager to get a hold of used iPhones and the prepaid brands in the US also desire these devices. It’s a win-win. By allowing customers easy, convenient ways to dispose of phones and a monetary incentive to boot, companies can extend the device life and make a customer happy at the same time. In addition, for any of the gadgets that are broken or too old to use, these buyback programs provide certified and safe ways to recycle end of life devices. This is especially important as State and Federal regulations around e-waste may get more aggressive; these programs become top of mind for many users, especially businesses.
Mobile Device Trade-in and Buyback Ecosystem
There are several players in this market and Compass Intelligence (via its division Bamboo Mobile) tracks and analyzes many of them. In the most recent Idle Device Market Sizing and Forecast, 2013-2018 report, we offer a look at how many used, idle mobile devices are in the market and how will this area grow over time. Bamboo Mobile estimates there were about 370 million used idle devices in the market in 2013 and about 59 million were recycled in some form. In this 47-page report, we forecast Type of Devices recycled, Channels Recycled, Condition of Device and more. The report also provides a view on the amount of revenue generated from buy back and trade in programs over time. To view an excerpt from the report, click here.
Next month, we will be publishing our 2014 Mobile Device Buyback/Trade-in Ranking and Assessment report. For more information, please contact Kate Pearce at [email protected].