GSM Palm Pre Phones Due for Europe October 13
Updated:Good news, European Palm fans! Palm Inc. and O2 have today announced details about pricing and availability for the GSM Palm Pre in Europe: it's coming to Germany on October 13 and the United Kingdom and Ireland on 16 October, with a starting price of 'free'.
Bad news, European Palm fans! Let's just get the inevitable question out of the way now for my fellow English-speaking readers: an unlocked UK/Irish model is not going to be available. However, it is a world phone (supporting GSM bands 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 and UMTS/HSDPA bands 850 / 1900 / 2100) and the Irish model will be offered in an off-contract pre-paid version, so we can cling to the hope that once a hack-around is discovered (and it will be discovered, as inevitably as the sun will rise) we can safely purchase one for the relatively reasonable price of €420 ($620 USD). Palm Infocenter has contacted O2's UK press office for further information on potential unlocked availability and will update once/if we receive it. O2 has confirmed the sad news. A spokesperson has informed us that "the Palm Pre will only be available with an O2 contract at launch" - which does, however, leave open the possibility that this will change after a set period of exclusivity.
Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefonica O2 UK said "Today's announcement reinforces O2's position as the home of the smartphone. With the addition of the excellent Palm Pre to our already extensive portfolio, we will continue to offer our customers the widest range of the very best devices on the market today."
"There's a lot of excitement about Palm Pre in Europe as we continue to expand Palm webOS products across new carriers and countries," said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer of Palm, Inc. "We look forward to launching Palm Pre with O2 so people in the UK can see firsthand how Palm webOS offers a new and better smartphone experience."
UK pricing details
Palm Pre is free to O2 customers taking out a 24-month contract and to customers taking an 18-month contract at £44.05 or £73.41 per month. See attached table or the O2 website for full tariff options. All customers will receive unlimited UK data browsing over O2's HSDPA network and unlimited access to 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots through both The Cloud and now BT Openzone. The Touchstone Charging Dock will retail at £44.11 a saving of £10.
For O2 business customers, the Palm Pre will be available on current O2 business tariffs as a monthly bolt on, with the device available for free to account holders on all business tariffs from £30.91on a 24 or 36-month contract.
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Yes, NA comaptible
In Canada, you will be able to use it on Fido, Rogers, and soon Bell and Telus. None of the new carriers (WIND, DAVE, Videotron, Public Mobile) will be compatible.
850mhz?
They arn't guna work v well in Eu if they don't support 900mhz.
Wasn't there suposed to be seperate 850 & 900 models?
This is bad news for the Aus Vodafone rumers & more evedence it will be a Telstra exclusive.
On that note give us some more Ozzy roumers.
RE: 850mhz?
Your post gives me an idea for an infodump tonight, though...
RE: 850mhz?
Now that Eu is official we might see some "leaks" about other markets. I need info to shut my brother up. I talked him out of buying an iPhone & now he keeps buging me about when the pre is coming out.
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Good ole' USA?
More to the point. If I buy a new phone on ATT with 2yr contract, dump the NIB phone on eBAY and use the proceeds to buy a Euro Pre, can I get er done?
Still evaluating this phone, but ready to make the jump to 3G soon. I would love for it to be Palm, but going backward on important features vs my 2.5yr old Treo 680 is not that exciting.
Pat Horne