Verizon looks at what everyone else is selling, drops Omnia to $199

Step one of pricing a product: look at what the competitors are getting for theirs.

Now, let’s see here: AT&T has the iPhone 3G, which is blessed with the insta-hype generating Apple logo on the back, selling at $199. T-Mobile has the G1, an object of much desire to many a geek as the first Android handset to hit the market, for $179. So when Verizon was finally ready to push out the Omnia, a handset which (while rather gorgeous) doesnt have all that much pull in the US, did they think to squeak it down into the sub-$200 range where their biggest competitors sit? Nope – not right off the bat, at least.

Just eight days after the Omnia’s launch on Verizon, the carrier has lopped an additional $50 bucks off of the $249.99 entry fee, matching it penny-for-penny with Cupertino’s finest. While $50 bucks of savings is never bad news for the consumer (well, except for early adopters. Excited enough about a new phone to buy it on launch day? Screw you!), a price cut after just a week on the market isn’t exactly a sign of strong sales.

[Via EngadgetMobile]