I wonder why they did that.... I purchased the 1100 mhz version for a friend a week or so ago, is there something wrong with the speeds that they had to downclock it?

Nothing wrong with the speeds, they just want to use crappier GPU and parts to make it cheaper while selling it for the same amount of money. It's a very common practice with Taiwan based IT producers. They even call it improvement by using their own, better design.
Of course, the products is shittier because they use lower quality capacitors, PCBs with less layers, cheaper cooling etc.

well, glad my friend ended up with the better card :D

The market demands an AIB use their sku (ie 7770) to beat the comparable green/red part in whatever fashion applicable. Be that overclocked sku versus stock competition, overclocked sku versus clock (performance) potential of the competition, etc.

No amount of overclocking is going to make 650 faster than a 7770 at 1050mhz.
Likewise, no amount of sane sku stock clock is going to make 7770 faster than 650ti.

Them be the facts. The foregone conclusion is apparent. Does it save them money? Probably. Will it allow them to sell it cheaper? Maybe. Point is, the product still sits in the exact same spot.

So........you can just overclock it

Yea, not sure the reason, although even after W1zzards review of the 1100Mhz card, where OC'n was none existent (1115 MHz), there where card with incorrect Shaders counts that [H] said and put out a Bios flash to a F4, although other said it fixed instances of instability read what [H] said...
www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/HD_7770_OC/
www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/13/gigabyte_gv777ocgd1_radeon_hd_video_card_review/

Egg had the original down to $90 –AR$20, back early July and if you got one and didn’t have problems with or without the Bios flash even if you couldn’t OC more you still had a good purchase. Honestly, I’d say the later Cape Verde process chip are better and they may have lowered it to, "yes" get a more stable return on the chips, and let folks find their own limits, which I’ll bet now can at least provide 1150Mhz and probably still great memory improvements. As to that price forget-about-it... this is already at Egg for $110 working a $20 rebate. I’d say this 1050Mhz clock is easily enough to set a GTS650Ti reference on its heels at 1680x, while neither card is worth hoping to triumph for 1920x.

www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b471/GIGABYTE_HD_7770_OC_rev._1.0.html

www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/b472/GIGABYTE_HD_7770_OC_rev._2.0.html

It lost 64 Gflops. That is 4.5% performance decrease easily brought back with a little overclocking.