Fiddling with prices as the clock runs out

Perhaps Santa Claus understands the Byzantine machinations of handset pricing at the major carriers, but with his work done for the year, Santa’s contract calls for silence.
Thus one is left to ponder the pricing gymnastics of, say, the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. A900m at Sprint Nextel Corp., which entered the holiday season on Dec. 4 at $50 via the carrier’s Web site and jumped up to $80 a week later. Post-Christmas, the A900m dropped like a lead balloon to $30. The LG Electronics Co. Ltd. Fusic at Sprint Nextel also got the clearance-like treatment, nose-diving from $100 the week before Christmas to $30 afterwards.
Verizon Wireless got into the post-Christmas spirit by dropping the Nokia Corp. 6215i on its Web site from $50 to “free.” Bucking the clearance trend, Verizon Wireless also kicked the “free” LG VX5200 up to $10.
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. went wild in the post-Christmas frenzy, dropping the price on the Motorola Inc. L2 in pink from $10 to “free.”
Major United States carriers do not publicly discuss their handset pricing strategies. And Santa ain’t talking either.