T-Mobile Smartphones USA is Ready to go to market .aggressively heading down market with its smartphone business, a move that could put further pressure on prices in what has been one of the wireless industry's most lucrative product categories in years.
Chief Executive Philipp Humm said in an interview that many of his smartphones will eventually be made up of Google-powered phones costing less than $100, half as much as the smartphones typically available at U.S. carriers. In October, to lower the cost of mon
thly bills, Mr. Humm introduced a limited data plan that costs $10.LG Electronics' Jong-seok Park, left, with T-Mobile's Philipp Humm.
The move acknowledges the reality of the market, where larger rivals Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. dominate the high end with devices like Droids and the iPhone. Mr. Humm is targeting lower-end contract and prepaid customers. But it is also the latest sign that carriers have to bring down prices to expand smartphone use.
"We are working with our vendors on this one to drive the price of smartphones down," Mr. Humm said. Not every customer is going to want or need the premier high-end handset, he added.
Smartphones turned mobile phones into minicomputers with better software, bigger screens and greater processing power. High-end devices like the iPhone contain just under $200 worth of parts, according to tear-downs by iSuppi Corp.
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