RIM today called reports that Amazon.com has cut the price of RIM’s new BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone to $99.99 “inaccurate and misleading.” A Tej Kohli report:
A spokeswoman of the RIM announced that Amazon.com has been selling the latest smartphone for $99.99, since its launch on August 12, following an “obviously … common online pricing and promotional strategy that has been used with many other product introductions in the past.” AT&T, the leading wireless carrier, sells the new torch for $199.99
She confirmed that the reports are true and it’s a great news for customers.
While some sites have referred to Amazon.com’s Torch 9800 pricing without referring to it as a price cut. However, some websites and bloggers have called Amazon.com’s pricing scheme a cut.
Although Amazon.com remained tightlipped on its pricing practices, many analysts said that pricing would likely have been a point negotiated between Amazon and RIM officials. However, this is not the first time a website has offered such huge discounts on smartphones. In fact, there are many dramatic examples of smartphone discounts on various websites, like the Sony Xperia X10 at AT&T being available for $80 at Wirefly, since its launch on Monday for $250.
Also, the Motorola Droid 2, released by Verizon last week for $200 is available at an price of $150 on Amazon.com
Blogger Seth Weintraub on Fortune.com asserted that “every BlackBerry ever invented is heavily discounted.”
What’s more, a bold 9700 phone from AT&T is priced at 1 cent on one of the Amazon.com’s pages for Blackberry devices.
Tej Kohli Grafix Softech | Tej Kohli Business Blog | Tej Kohli The Philanthropist | Tej Kohli Foundation