Sprint And Google Are Cashing In On The Holiday Season

With the holiday shopping season in full swing, Sprint and Google are making a big push to draw in new customers and users. The move could boost final quarter results for both companies as the year ends.

Sprint announced on Monday that it would be extending its offer for free third, fourth and fifth lines with unlimited talk, data, and text.

To take advantage of Sprint’s offer, customers must switch at least one line over to Sprint and enroll in Unlimited Freedom through AutoPay. Plans start at just $20 per month for a family of five, and the promotional price extends all the way through January 31, 2018.

The Black Friday offer was so popular, Sprint made the decision to extend the promotion for a limited time. On average, customers save $30 per line.

“Sprint’s “free lines” marketing strategy for the holiday season will save customers about $1,000 in the first year,” said a spokesperson for PSM Marketing, a marketing firm. “It’s safe to say that this offer is going to attract a lot of customers, which is great for Sprint’s bottom line.”

Under the promotion, customers pay up to $100/month for two lines ($60 for a single line). The third, fourth and fifth lines are free until January 31, 2018. Each line has unlimited talk, text, and 4G data.

Once the promotion ends in 2018, customers will pay $30 for each additional line.

Google is also taking advantage of the holiday shopping season through its “Shop, Tab, Reward” program in the U.K.

The rewards program gives Android Pay users in the United Kingdom a virtual gift each time they use the service at a store or on the Transport in London.

Each time users tap to pay, they receive a chance to win one of over 100,000 gift cards. Up for grabs is a Costa Coffee voucher, a House of Fraser card worth £500, a £500 Currys PC world card, and a pair of ODEON Cinemas tickets.

Android Pay has also incorporated festive animations to accompany the tap-to-pay program. Each of the holiday-related animations features Bugdroid, Android’s mascot.

Uber recently joined the Android Pay program. For a limited time, riders in the UK can save up to 50% on their next ten rides by using Android Pay.

Contactless cards and devices are quickly becoming the preferred way to pay in the UK. The UK Cards Association found that over one in five card payments are now made using services like Android Pay. Contactless transactions increased from 89 million to 260.7 million between August 2015 and August 2016. Users are spending more, too, with the average transaction increasing from £7.12 in 2015 to £8.97 this year.

Google also rolled out new features for riders of the London Tube. One feature notifies riders if they forget to tap in or out at stations, so they can submit a refund request on the Transport for London’s website. The other feature keeps track of bus numbers and station names to provide users with daily summaries of their public transport use. The information is added to their Transport for London transactions.