Handset pricing gymnastics: Tier-one carriers fiddle with price tags

Handset pricing gyrations ran the gamut last week, as all of the nation’s tier-one carriers tinkered with the cost of their handset portfolios.
–AT&T Mobility slashed in half the price on four Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. handsets last week, ranging from the low-end C417, priced at $10 (down from $20), to the smartphone BlackJack, priced at $75 (down from $150).
–Verizon Wireless, in contrast, upped prices on four of its Samsung models, while cutting prices on four models from LG Electronics Co. Ltd. Notably, the Chocolate dropped to $100 (from $130), the VX8700 dropped to $150 (from $180), and the enV dropped to $150 (from $200).
–Sprint Nextel Corp. shaved prices on its Motorola Inc. handsets, with the Krzr K1m attracting attention at $80 (down drastically from $200). Sprint Nextel also knocked down two models of Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry, including the 8703e priced at $100 (down from $150).
–T-Mobile USA Inc. knocked down the Rizr z3, just announced in February, to $50 (from $100).