So what’s happening to all those old iPhone 3G and 3GS models - are they ending up in landfills or are they finding an appropriate home? CNN Money’s Jennifer Lawinski reports that a ton of phones are finding their way to the secondhand phone market, where resellers like Gazelle, NextWorth, and CashforiPhones are having a field day with all these used devices.
“It’s always a good time of year for us,” said Dave Chen, CEO of NextWorth. “Every day we’re hitting record numbers – several hundred to probably over a thousand [units] today. We’ll probably end up doing over a million bucks this month just in iPhones.”
Craziness, we know. Gazelle is reporting their getting 1200 old iPhones each day, which have run around $200 per sale. But some people haven’t wanted the money back, and instead are giving their phones away as charitable donations.
Steve Glinberg, developer of educational apps like KidCalc Math Fun, runs a recycling program for iPhones and iPod Touches. Glinberg wipes the data, restores the factory settings, installs educational apps and ships the devices to teachers who have requested them.
The iPhone 3GS isn’t an abandoned stepchild, and will find its way into peoples homes and businesses as an ever important industry tool. The iPhone 4 may be new, and it may be hip, but don’t discredit “outdated” technology.
[via CNN Money]
