A UK version of the Palm Pre has finally been announced, and it will be released in the UK exclusively on O2.
Helpfully it's given no word on price or an actual release date other than 'in time for the holidays', but the good news is that it is coming, something that was widely rumoured for the past few weeks.
"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."
Hot and absent
The Palm Pre has been one of the most hotly anticipated devices in the UK since it was announced at CES in January.
It features one of the best touchscreens since the iPhone, a 3.1-inch cpacative effort, with multi-tasking and the innovative (well, it was) new webOS.
There's a headphone jack, 8GB of internal storage as well as the obvious Wi-Fi and superfast 3.5G internet connection, and a slide-out QWERTY keyboard.
The then-CEO of Palm Ed Colligan promised a GSM version within months of the US version launching, which finally occurred on 6 June.
It would seem his promise has come true, with the UK now getting ready to get its hands on the new device, although we hope it will be significantly before Christmas as the press release worryingly suggests.
We're meeting up with Palm later today to shoot the breeze, so we'll try and pin down a more definitive date.
Your comments (5) Click to add a new comment
f4780y
July 7th
5. @dvs - It does make a difference for me personally.
I would consider spending "lots" of cash, as opposed to "tons", if I could own 3 contracts for subsidised iPhone 3GS, Pre, and Hero, if they were available on separate networks, but I am damned if I will have 3 O2 contracts running concurrently or pay my way out all 3... It would probably amount to an extra £1000 easily for the 3 handsets...
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dvs
July 7th
4. f84780y - Er... it makes no difference what network the Pre is on. If you've chosen to lock yourself into an iPhone contract, you wouldn't be able to get the Pre anyway (unless, as you say, you have tons of cash).
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nabs
July 7th
3. Shame its only on O2. means yet more people will jump to the already overcrowded network
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machead29
July 7th
2. O2 is fail - makes the iphone a lot worse
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f4780y
July 7th
1. Yes, the UK / Europe market is soooo important that they will possibly launch a phone in time for Xmas. And DOUBLE FAIL it will be on O2, so even those of us locked into them for our 3G / 3GS contracts will have absolutely no incentive to get one of these as an alternative gadget now, unless we have tons of spare cash...
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