Post-holiday handset prices waver

Changes in online handset prices keep raising questions for observers: Is the post-holiday retail model one of continued discounting to milk any lingering consumer desires to shop and spend money? Or, does the arrival of a new year offer a chance to regroup and, conceivably, back off the holiday season’s insanely low prices and the corresponding commitment of subsidies?
If online handset price changes between Christmas and New Year’s Day are any measure, the answer is a little of both.
Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Sprint Nextel Corp. tinkered the most this past week. Cingular raised prices on two handsets-moving the Sony Ericsson Z525a from free to $20 and the Nokia Corp. E62 from $100 to $150-and dropped the Sony Ericsson w810i from $100 to $75 and the Motorola Inc. Razr v3r from $150 to $130. Sprint Nextel raised prices on four handsets: the LG Electronics Co. Ltd. Fusic jumped from $30 to $100, the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. A900m went from $30 to $80, the Research In Motion Ltd. BlackBerry 7100i rose from $130 to $200 and the Motorola i670 went from free to $50.
Verizon Wireless knocked the BlackBerry 8703e down to $150 from $200. T-Mobile USA Inc. maintained the status quo, for now.
Whether these price gyrations, in the end, helped sell handsets and service plans-or whether speculation on a possible cooling in the United States market in the fourth quarter turns out to be true-may be revealed as fourth quarter numbers become available in the coming weeks.