$199 puts Android right up against the iPhone

So comments reader, Jon Bradford:

What I find most odd about the reported details of the G1 to date is its price of $199.

At this price point Android goes directly up against the iPhone which has been around for around 15 months and has sold millions of units. In addition, it is agreed that the iPhone has a slicker interface and is much “sexier”.

So T-Mobile and Google are going to need a surprise or two up their sleeve to persuade punters not to buy an iPhone. Much as alpha geeks salivate at the prospect of applications on their mobile, normobs (at this stage) couldn’t care less. So what might they be preparing – it appears that the subsidy is relatively small so does this mean much lower (and accessible) tariffs – or tariffs inclusive of data – this could be appealing to normobs (rather than the £35 a month tariffs).

Interestingly, it was reported this morning that T-Mobile might provide users with a free email access to Gmail (maybe a kickback somewhere)? Imagine normobs getting free push email on their phones, now that could be interesting. This might get them hooked and pay for a full data tariff.

I think the surprise this afternoon won’t be the hardware or the price point (clearly) but tariffs and services … what could they have in mind?