Mobiles play an intimate role in our daily lives carrying a large amount of personal information. More than half (47 per cent) of mobile data stored on used mobiles are text messages, contacts, emails, bank details, user names, passwords and business information.
“My mobile is more than just a phone – it’s a lifestyle device. On any given day I use it to connect with friends via social media, shop, bank and check emails from work. There is a vast amount of sensitive information available should my handset get into the wrong hands. I would feel nervous handing my phone over at any time even if it is just to be repaired by professionals. When I come to trading my phone in, I want to be certain that all my personal information is gone after I have parted with the handset,” explains Joe Kent.
“While phone buyback has enjoyed tremendous growth in conjunction with global smartphone adoption, one area of consumer resistance has been related to security of personal data. With the addition of the device wipe, Cellebrite has helped remove this final barrier to phone trade in adoption, paving the way for retailers to increase phone trade-in transaction volume” said Yossi Carmil, Co-CEO Cellebrite.
Phone buyback programs offer wireless retailers important new revenue streams and increased profit margins by driving traffic to the store, and providing immediate credits that can be used to offset the purchase of a new phone or high margin accessories. The retailer is then reimbursed the value of the phone when it is sent to be recycled. With customer spend in the store well in excess of 100 percent of the value traded device at no cost to the retailer, phone buyback take rates are critical to growing wireless retail sales and profitability.
Once an in-store agent confirms the phone buyback transaction with the customer, the wipe can be performed on a supported device. The device wipe can be offered free to customers as an incentive to trade their phones for in-store credit, and typically takes less than five minutes to perform. The wipe capability is available as part of the automated phone buyback solution that runs on the Cellebrite Touch Platform. The Cellebrite Touch phone buyback solution automatically detects phones and generates an accurate price for the phone to eliminate loss from inaccurate or incorrectly applied discounts, creates a coupon for the phone value to be used in the store, and facilitates the removal of customer data from the device. The device wipe capability for Android and Blackberry is available immediately, with iOS support available in 45 days.
“Given the competitiveness of the global wireless retail landscape and the need to add new high margin revenue streams, we see growing demand for phone buyback programs among carriers and large retailers,” said Yossi Carmil, Co-CEO Cellebrite. “We believe that the device wipe is critical to helping our wireless retail customers successfully monetize phone buyback.”