HTC Touch Pro2 priced: it will retail for about $880
You may already know that the new HTC Touch Pro2 will be available for purchase starting this summer - after all, HTC said so when it officially announced the smartphone (at the same time with the Touch Diamond2).
Context & Ripple Effects
HTC is building out a two-device flagship push: the Touch Pro2 was announced alongside the Touch Diamond2, with both slated for a summer release. The ~$880 sticker is the maker's own retail number — the price a buyer pays before any operator touches it.
That framing matters because the original Touch Pro reached US buyers through carriers, with Sprint putting the device on sale online back in November 2008, and HTC's Windows Mobile line already circulating at Verizon ahead of the Diamond2's arrival (the Verizon-bound Touch Diamond was photographed in March 2009). The unlocked price is therefore a ceiling, not the street price most buyers will actually see.
First-order effects
- At about $880, the Touch Pro2 is priced for early adopters and importers this summer; volume buyers will wait to see what carriers charge on contract.
- Launching the Pro2 and Diamond2 together puts two premium Windows Mobile handsets into one sales window, forcing HTC's retail partners to differentiate them on keyboard, screen, and price tier rather than brand.
Second-order effects
- Carriers that already stock HTC's Windows Mobile devices — Sprint with the Touch Pro, Verizon circling the Diamond — now set the real consumer price via subsidy depth, giving operators the leverage point over HTC's flagship economics.
- A wide gap between the ~$880 unlocked figure and eventual contract pricing makes the carrier version the default purchase path, pushing independent retailers of unsubsidized handsets to the margins.
Third-order effects
- If maker sticker prices stay high while carriers absorb the difference, handset competition consolidates around which operator subsidizes hardest — turning phone choice into a byproduct of contract terms rather than device merit.
- For HTC specifically, dependence on carrier distribution means its premium-brand ambitions are capped by how much subsidy room operators are willing to grant a Windows Mobile lineup.
The trend: Premium smartphone pricing is splitting into two tiers — a high maker-set unlocked price and a carrier-subsidized street price — with operators increasingly controlling which tier customers actually see.