Apple (AAPL) Plans iPhone Trade-Ins for First Time to Aid Sales

(Updated - June 6, 2013 2:05 PM EDT)

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) shares are moving slightly higher Thursday following headlines from Bloomberg that the company might be mulling iPhone trade-ins for the first time to add to sales.

Apple has teamed with mobile phone distributor Brightstar Corp to run the program, Blomberg noted. Brightstar handles trade-ins for companies like T-Mobile (NYSE: TMUS) and AT&T (NYSE: T).

AT&T currently pays about $200 for a working iPhone 4 or 4S, letting customers buy an iPhone 5 for no money down.

Though Apple has a Web-based recycling program, the Brightstar agreement will be at retail locations only and let customers avoid the hassle of having to ship and wait for a refund.

Gazelle, Inc., CEO Israel Ganot estimates that as many as 20 percent of U.S. customers planning to purchase a new smartphone this year via trade-in, up from 11 percent last year.

Apple's current program is run with California-based PowerOn Services Inc.,

Apple is down 1.8 percent for the session, but off of lows.

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