Republic Wireless is an MVNO that is trying to innovate in the wireless market with its truly “unlimited data” plans, thanks to a combination of 3G and Wi-fi, but so far it hasn’t had a lot of good phones that people could pick from. That seems like it won’t be the case for long, because if these leaked pictures are real, it seems that the Moto X will be coming to Republic Wireless, and it will carry the a very low priced of $299, unsubsidized.
A lot of people thought the Moto X would cost something like $300 unsubsidized, because of its lower-end specs, but I think Google kept the price high for the carriers. If the carriers can buy it from Google for $300, but sell it for $200 on contract, and $600 unlocked, that’s a lot of profit for them, and probably the only reason most of them even accepted to carry the Moto X, without any changes to it.
As we know, US carriers never do something out of the goodness of their own hearts, and they always expect OEM’s to “give them something” if they want to carry their phones. When it’s smaller OEM’s they manage to convince them to change their phones somehow (usually for the worse), or give them a lot of money for each unit, which is what Motorola seems to have chosen.
But MVNO’s like Republic Wireless probably don’t care as much about bullying OEM’s, and they want to attract customers with good phones – phones like the Moto X. This is why they probably managed to score this deal with Google for, what’s likely, the real price of the Moto X – $300.
Republic Wireless has already teased a silhouette of a phone, which is likely to be the Moto X, so all of these leaks point to an inevitable Moto X launch on the Republic Wireless carrier.