It will also cost you $199 to get an HTC Tilt 2, which runs Windows
Mobile 6.5 -- an operating system so out of date that Microsoft
(Nasdaq: MSFT - News) is set to completely abandon it in the next
few months.
So what's so special about $199?
"The obvious answer is that $199 is a magic price point for
smartphone volume," said George Appling, partner at consulting
firm Booz & Co. "The not-so-obvious reason is that carriers are
not charging customers what they pay."