AT&T to launch the Tilt 2 on October 6th; coincidence?
Oh no, we're not done just yet ladies and gents. We already know October 6th is going to be a glorious day and now it looks like AT&T subscribers will be able to join in on the fun. Have you been feeling left out …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Tilt 2 is AT&T's sequel to the original Tilt that launched in October 2007 at $299.99, and it has been circling the carrier since BGR flagged it in an August pre-launch lineup alongside the BlackBerry 9700 and Garmin G60. What makes the date notable is the collision: Verizon is putting its HTC Imagio on shelves the very same October 6th, making this a same-day flagship-for-flagship counter between the two carriers.
First-order effects
- AT&T hands its non-iPhone customers a fresh high-end option on October 6th, directly answering Verizon's Imagio launch scheduled for the identical date.
- HTC now has flagship devices shipping through both carriers in the same week, doubling its shelf presence during the holiday-quarter ramp.
Second-order effects
- With the Tilt 2 and Imagio priced against each other on the same day, the upgrade decision shifts to network reputation — a sore point for AT&T, whose iPhone users have endured dropped calls in New York and San Francisco even as it rolls out remedies like the 3G MicroCell femtocell.
- AT&T's September 6th mandate that all smartphone buyers take a data plan means every Tilt 2 sale carries guaranteed recurring revenue regardless of how the handset head-to-head goes.
Third-order effects
- If same-day counter-launches become the pattern, handset makers gain leverage by supplying both sides of a carrier feud, while carriers increasingly compete on network capacity and data-plan economics rather than device exclusivity — a live question given that AT&T's two-year iPhone exclusive is confirmed to be showing strain.
The trend: US carriers are converging their fall smartphone launch calendars to neutralize each other's hardware exclusives, pushing competition toward network quality and data-plan attach rates.