Rumor: Verizon Storm 2 launching Oct. 28th at $179.99?

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It’s almost depressing to see how far out of their way Verizon is going — knowingly or not — to tone down the launch of the BlackBerry Storm2 on their network. The normal pre-launch fanfare (Mailers and posters and contests, oh my!) is non-existent. At this point, they’re not even giving the device its own launch day.

EngadgetMobile just got this hot bit of info in their inbox, and it appears to verify the recent rumors that the Storm2 would be launching on October 28th. As any good MobileCrunch reader should know, Verizon’s already pushing mounds of attention toward something else that’s happening on October 28th: the official announcement of the Motorola Droid.

The same tip also shines some light on the pricing set-up: $179.99 on a 2 year contract (after $100 mail-in rebate), $279 on a 1 year contract (with the same rebate deal), or $539.99 sans contract.

Expect the halls of the blogosphere to be thundering with Droid coverage come the 28th, with a couple of “Oh yeah, and the Storm2 launched” posts here and there – which, it seems, is exactly what Verizon wants.