O2 is set to follow up its success with the iPhone in the UK by grabbing an exclusive deal to stock the device that gadget fans reckon is the closest thing to a real competitor to the Apple device, the Palm Pre.
The UK's largest mobile phone operator, with more than 20 million customers, is understood to have seen off fierce competition for the new handset from Vodafone and Orange, and it will be available in the UK in time for the crucial Christmas period.
Palm, which popularised handheld computers called personal digital assistants (PDAs) such as the Palm Pilot in the 1990s, is hoping that the Pre will get it back into the lucrative market for smartphones, having lost out to rivals including Nokia and RIM, maker of the BlackBerry. Though the recession has brought overall growth in mobile phone sales to a spluttering halt, demand for high-end devices that can access the internet, send emails and play music, as well as allow calling and texting, has proved more resilient.
Last week, Palm announced that the Pre will be available in the US from next month under an exclusive deal with mobile network Sprint, for $199.99 (£129) on a two-year contract. Stocks of the device are limited, however, which is why gadget fans outside the US will have to wait several months before it becomes available.
As well as a touchscreen that reviewers have compared favourably with that found on the iPhone, the Pre has a slide-out full qwerty keyboard, making emails easier to type than on the Apple device. It also has an eye-catching way of recharging: rather than being plugged in, it has to be placed on what Palm calls its Touchstone and charges through magnetic induction.
For O2, who refused to comment, getting the Palm Pre will add another must-have gadget at a time when Apple is expected to open up the iPhone to other operators in the original four markets – the US, UK, France and Germany – where it initially opted for exclusive deals.
Expanding the number of operators able to stock the iPhone comes as a new model is unleashed on the market. Apple is also expected to unveil a new version of the handset within the next few months, possibly as early as early June, at its worldwide developers conference in San Francisco next month. That event is also expected to provide the first sight of Apple's latest device, a tablet computer that would bridge the gap between the iPhone and iPod Touch and its laptops.
The iPhone has already sparked a host of copycat touchscreen devices – from the Nokia 5800 and X-Series Walkman to the HTC Magic and G1, both of which run Google's new Android operating system – and more are expected as the year progresses. RIM is understood to have developed a new version of its BlackBerry Storm touchscreen device that its US partner Verizon Wireless, part-owned by Vodafone, is expected to launch next month. Though the original Storm, which Vodafone and Verizon had under an exclusive deal, has sold well, it received a poor critical reception.
The new version does away with one of the original device's most annoying features – SurePress, which required the user to press down the screen in order to type or select icons – and opts instead for a traditional touchscreen feel.
Thanks Richard Wray.
[Originally posted at guardian.co.uk]
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