Best Buy to give mobile phone buyers a $50 gift card

Best Buy is dangling a new promotion to lure in mobile phone buyers.

From Sunday, February 2, through Saturday, February 15, anyone who signs up to buy a new mobile phone will receive a $50 gift card. The terms seem a bit tricky at first glance, but here's how it all works:

You first register your mobile phone number and e-mail address at Best Buy's Gift Card Offer page. You must register sometime between February 2 and February 15.

You then must buy and activate a new mobile phone from Best Buy via a two year-agreement with AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon Wireless. You can buy and activate that phone anytime between February 2 and December 31, giving you almost the whole year to decide on a new phone.

After you activate your new phone, Best Buy will automatically send you the $50 gift card, which can be applied to the purchase itself. If you don't buy a phone before the end of the year, then the gift card offer simply expires.

Upgrades and port-in activations (bringing your phone number to a new carrier) qualify, but just snagging a new phone number won't score you the card. Best Buy promises to reveal more details on February 2. But the deal sounds worth investigating as long as you plan to buy a new phone this year.

What else is Best Buy cooking up?

This Friday and Saturday only, you can get Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone for free with a two-year agreement via AT&T or Verizon Wireless. And for the same two days only, you can save $100 on any Apple MacBook and $200 on any Sony Premium Collection 2-in-1 laptop. Finally, any student with a .edu e-mail address who registers with Best Buy can save $150 on all MacBooks and $200 on all iMacs starting this Sunday.

Update, 7:53 a.m. PT: Adds more details on Best Buy deals.