Report: Android-Powered HTC Dream To Cost $199

The new sweet spot for smartphones is right around the $200 mark. Smartphones from the likes of Samsung, RIM, Motorola, and others have all targeted this price point (with subsidies, of course). So did the Apple iPhone. Apparently, so is the first phone running Google's Android platform.You can buy a lot more phone for $200 than you used to be able to. Four years ago, I paid that much for my first camera phone, which was a simple clamshell from LG with a VGA camera on board and 1X data. That old phone of mine would barely rate "entry-level" status today.

With so many capable smartphones at or near the magical $200 price point, it's little wonder that reports are suggesting that HTC and T-Mobile will offer the first Android phone at that price point. The Wall Street Journal, citing sources "familiar with the matter", has pegged the HTC Dream at $200, says it will have Google branding on it, and will come with new, lower data plans from T-Mobile. Exactly what those data plans will cost, no one knows for sure, but the $20-per-month figure is being suggested by more than a few.

What hasn't been made clear at all is how much the retail price of the HTC Dream will be, and whether or not it can be bought with no contract. I am hoping that the no-contract version of the HTC Dream will sell for less than $400 at retail.

Hopefully, T-Mobile and HTC will share these details at the official press conference announcing the Dream next week.