T-Mobile’s new Motorola CLIQ Android smartphone is all the rage right now.  There are a lot of people, yours truly included that are very interested in the device, for a number of different reasons.  The CLIQ will be made available to eligible, existing customers on 19-Oct-09 for $199.99 and then will be made available to new T-Mo customers on 02-Nov-09 for the same price, all with a 2 year contract agreement. Off contract, its $449.99.

While the contract price is not bad, I saw an article at Silicone Alley Insider that slammed both Moto and T-Mo for setting the price so high.  Their main point? Simple – You can’t sell an iPhone competitor that isn’t as good as the iPhone for more than the base price iPhone.

Sorry, but you can’t charge $100 more than the iPhone for a phone that’s not as good as the iPhone. The CLIQ should cost no more than $99; ideally, it’d be $49…

…T-Mobile ultimately sets the price here, but Motorola should have some say in the matter, based on its wholesale pricing and general pull in the relationship. But either way, Motorola ends up the loser here, because what they make up in margin getting the extra $100 or $150 for the phone, they are losing in volume…

They have a point. Refurbed iPhone 3G’s are currently going for $49 for 8GB and $99 for 16GB. I’ve looked through the tech specs for the device, and I can see nothing related to onboard device storage, aside from a mention for support for up to a 32GB microSD card.  The device comes with a 2GB SD card.  Great, but not so great.

Hopefully, by the time I’m really ready to buy one for myself, the prices will have dropped a bit; but I’m not holding my breath.