Boston.com Article: Technology trade-ins
Date: 06/06/2010
Company: Gazelle
Source: Boston.com
Tomorrow morning, Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs is expected to unveil the next iteration of his company’s hot-selling iPhone at a gathering of Apple software developers in San Jose.
Not long afterward, a Boston company,Gazelle.com, expects to start receiving an influx of older iPhones. The company will send cash to the former owners, as much as $200 for a high-end model in good condition, and then resell the phones on the auction site eBay.
Gazelle, along with a Lawrence-based rival, NextWorth Solutions Inc., help gadget-craving consumers trade up to the latest and greatest without leaving yesterday’s model moldering in a desk drawer.
“Consumers want the shiny object, the new iPad, but they don’t want to sell the old thing,’’ says Israel Ganot, Gazelle’s chief executive and a Silicon Valley émigré who once worked at eBay and PayPal. “Only about 1 percent of consumer electronics get resold. This is where e-commerce was 15 years ago.’’