O2 officially gets the Palm Pre

7 July 2009 by Shaun 9 Comments

pre Just in from Palm, no dates yet though- “WINDSOR, England, Jul 07, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced that the Palm(R) Pre(TM) phone is scheduled to be available initially in the UK, Ireland and Germany exclusively on the O2 network, and in Spain exclusively on the Movistar network, in time for the holidays. Palm Pre, the first phone based on the new Palm webOS(TM) mobile platform, brings your information from the many places it resides – on your phone, at work or on the web – into one simple, integrated view.(1)

“Europe continues to be an important region for Palm, and we’re proud to work with O2 and Movistar to spread the excitement Palm Pre has already ignited in North America,” said Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and chief executive officer. “Since we showed Palm Pre at Mobile World Congress in February, there’s been a great deal of anticipation for an announcement about European availability, and that day is here.”

“We are fast becoming the home of the smartphone with the addition of the hotly-anticipated Palm Pre to our already extensive portfolio,” said Matthew Key, chairman and chief executive officer, Telefónica Europe. “Our customers will be the first outside of North America to experience one of the most successful mobile devices of the year.”

In its first weekend of availability in the United States, Palm Pre broke Sprint’s previous first-weekend sales records. Palm Pre also is scheduled to debut in Canada with Bell Mobility in the second half of 2009.

Palm Pre introduces a breakthrough user interface and hardware design that makes it one of the most integrated and user-friendly mobile phones on the market. Featuring a smooth, elegantly rounded ergonomic design and a physical keyboard that slides out only when needed, Palm Pre is engineered to feel natural in your hand and comfortably small in your pocket. When closed, Palm Pre is ideal for phone calls, web browsing, music, photos and videos; when open, Palm Pre is optimized for email and text messaging. It provides an exceptional experience for phone calls, whether held to your ear, over speakerphone or via Bluetooth.

With its curved slider and gesture-controlled touch interface, Palm Pre fuses exquisite design with the revolutionary webOS software for fast access to content on the device or web. Invented exclusively for mobile use, webOS offers an instinctive user experience that seems to anticipate your needs.”

9 Comments »

Statto said:

Great news. Gives me an iPhone/Palm dilemma when the time comes to upgrade!! Bring it on!

# 7 July 2009 at 10:54 am

Philippa said:

Does that mean no unlocked version?

# 7 July 2009 at 1:13 pm

Alloafan said:

Which holidays/ Christmas?!?

# 7 July 2009 at 1:50 pm

Peter said:

Christmas – thats what i’d heard.

I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s no sim free, and i think that would be the nail in the coffin. I want a sim free phone, and want the ability to put any sim card in it.
Locking phones to a network (which I suspect will happen) is against my ethics! Fine, when its a PAYG thats designed to be part funded by calls, but not when you’re going for an 18 month contract etc etc.

Grrr…

# 7 July 2009 at 4:11 pm

murrayalex said:

iPhone 3GS or Palm Pre or HTC Hero? Hmmmmmm…

# 7 July 2009 at 8:24 pm

Statto said:

@murrayalex

Why not all three?

# 7 July 2009 at 9:49 pm

DavidGreen said:

Unlocked? Ha that’s funny!

… sorry Philippa

# 8 July 2009 at 6:13 am

Rolf said:

Availability:

Last night, I received a (German) eMail from Palm, stating, that the Palm Pre will in a short while be available.
Here the link to the (German) announcement on the web:

http://www.palm.com/de/de/emails/pre/de-announce.html

Whatever soon (German: in Kürze) means.

However, I would not expect such an announcement now, when they plan it only for x-mas holidays!
Concidering the stock building up in the US-Sprint stores, one could imagine, that they could build up enough stock of GSM Versions to launch it here as well.

Just my 2 cents.

Rolf aka icarus

# 8 July 2009 at 10:36 am

vboelema said:

I got an email as well from Palm Spain saying that the Pre will be available soon through Movistar. You can sign up to get an email when it does become available. I agree with Rolf, in that if they’re sending this sort of stuff round now, the release ought to be sooner rather than later in Europe… X-mas is later (read TOO LATE!)

# 8 July 2009 at 9:36 pm