Handset prices see little change during iPhone surge

If you were expecting AT&T’s rivals to slash, say, smartphone prices in the wake of the iPhone launch, you’d be wrong.
A check on handset pricing over the past week revealed little by way of “me too” price cuts by the top-tier carriers.
In fact, AT&T itself offered the majority of price changes in its portfolio. The “iPhone carrier” had previously cut prices on its BlackBerry Pearl, Motorola Krzr and Nokia N75 devices to $150 from $200 in the first week of July and maintained those prices this past week. In its Pay As You go offerings, AT&T this past week offered two colors of Motorola Razr v3 (remember the Razr?) to $100 from $200.
Verizon Wireless last week cut prices on four models in the LG Chocolate line to $70 from $100 and introduced three new models of the LG Chocolate at $100. Verizon also ended special pricing on the Samsung SCH-u740, returning it to $130 from its former $100 sale price. Specials also ended on two phones from LG Electronics Co. The LG VX9400, which launched with Verizon’s mobile TV service, returned to its price of $200 (up from the former discount price of $100). And the LG enV returned to its price of $150 (up from the former discount price of $100).
T-Mobile USA dropped the price on three models of its Razr v3 to $50, way down from the previous $200 price tag.
Sprint Nextel Corp. apparently introduced two new phone models: the Sprint PPC-6700 at $100 and the BlackBerry 8830 at $200.