Palm Pre Evangelist: May 24, 2009

Sunday, May 24, 2009

O2 follows iPhone success with deal for next must-have gadget

Britain's largest mobile phone operator sees off Vodafone and Orange in fight to stock Palm Pre

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]

Palm Pre Pre-Orders to Corporate Customers?

An anonymous tipster has let us know that he's received an offer to pre-order the Palm Pre under a one of a few programs Sprint has set up for large, Fortune-100-type corportations. These programs are often run by intermediary companies, so it's still unclear whether they'll get guaranteed stock and whether they're offering actual pre-orders or the more standard sign-up-to-be-notified type offers.

The order page for IBM doesn't indicate that it's a true, you're gonna get one, kind of Pre-order, but when you get an email that states "We are currently taking Pre Orders for the Palm Pre," it seems promising. We've also heard from an anonymous AIG employee that the custom purchasing site for them also features the Pre quite prominently in a sort of pre-order context, bu again it's still not entirely clear it's an actual pre-order.

On the consumer front, we've received more than a handful of reports from people who say their local Sprint store managers have taken their names for a waiting list. Sprint's official line is that it'll be a strictly first-come-first-served affair, however, so getting a guaranteed Pre on launch day could be pretty difficult. It seems clear that there will be lots of different policies store-by-store as different managers try to deal with the massive interest in the Pre. At least some of our Palm Pre Forum Members have head claims that they'll be able to pre-order the Pre.

If inventory levels are going to be as thin as the current rumors indicate, we expect that folks will take any angle they can get to grab one. What's your launch day plan?

[Originally posted at precentral.net]

Palm Pre Emulator Up on Video

The InvisibleMan of PalmPreForum.org has posted up a series of videos of the Palm Pre Emulator. Almost all the videos are here ,It is going to work exactly as it will on the Pre, ex. the emulator doesn't support multitouch while the Pre itself does. Still and all, if you're looking to get your weekend Palm Pre video fix on, this is a good place to start.

See more videos inside

Palm Pre: Browser