Carriers tickle Motorola pricing, Alltel snaps, jumps into music

T-Mobile USA Inc. appears to have refreshed its handset lineup by discounting most of its Motorola Inc. Razrs-four models dropped to $30 from $50-and discontinuing the Moto Pebl.
The Pebl had once been one of Motorola’s flagship devices, and T-Mobile USA was the only major carrier in the United States to carry the device. However, it seems the smooth-sided flip phone never took off with consumers as did Motorola’s wildly popular, super slim Razr.
Thus, T-Mobile USA has apparently dropped the Pebl like a rock from its lineup. The carrier is now promoting the Moto Rizr, a slider device styled after the Razr.
In separate handset action, Amp’d Mobile Inc. discounted the price of its newly introduced Motorola Q.
Amp’d, perhaps trawling for its share of smartphone seekers before the Apple Inc. iPhone touches down next month at the nation’s largest carrier slashed the price of its Moto Q in half to $100 from $200.
As for new phones, Alltel Corp. added a new handset recently dubbed the “Snap,” which the carrier is selling online for 99 cents with a two-year contract.
The Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. flip phone features a camera and support for Alltel’s various Web and application offerings.
The phone is the second new Samsung phone to be introduced by Alltel; the carrier recently began selling the “Wafer,” a slim, bar-style Samsung phone.
Alltel also launched its Jump Music service, a free downloadable application for transferring files from personal computers to Alltel handsets via a USB cable. The software also interfaces with online digital music store eMusic, which offers more than 2.5 million tracks in the DRM-free MP3 format.
Jump Music is initially compatible with five Alltel phones: LG Electronics Co. Ltd.’s AX8600, the K1m and Razr V3m from Motorola, and Samsung’s u520 and Wafer. Alltel also launched a $50 accessory kit including a USB cable, stereo headset and 256 MB memory card.