01/09/2009, 11:30am, EST
Friday, January 9thPalm Pre to go GSM, cost $399 at Sprint?
The Palm Pre is already poised to run on more widespread GSM networks but may be more costly regardless of network, according to separate reports. Company European sales VP Paul Ghent tells site Pocket-lint that while the initial version of the Pre is limited to CDMA, a version with at least GSM is enroute to the region for the second half of the year. No mention is made of UMTS or HSPA, though all new Palm GSM phones above the Centro have shipped with both 3G technologies in the past year.
More word of the adapted Pre should be available during the Mobile World Congress trade show in February, according to Ghent.
Separately, Palm may also charge a large amount for the phone when it goes on sale. A Russian blogger known for accurate reports of the now-canceled RAZR 3 is now floating a rumor that the Pre will go on sale for $399 at Sprint, giving a first possible clue regarding the phone's otherwise unannounced price. It's not known whether this is the contract or full retail price, though the writer also claims to know that the phone will sell free of any carrier in Europe for between $500 and $550.
The cellphone designer hasn't commented on this alleged leak but has taken a very different approach than its close competitor Apple to announcing its first full touchscreen phone, which is already being compared directly to the iPhone. Where Apple announced its pricing for the original iPhone over five months before its actual release, Palm has consciously avoided stating a price despite planning to ship its phone in the first half of 2009. The Centro and Treo maker is under pressure to at least match the iPhone 3G's $199 carrier-discounted price.
Filed under: iPhone, industry, mobile phones, Apple
Other story tags: sprint, Palm, Pre
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It's cute, but
Not $300 worth of cute
$399?
If the previous article on the Pre is accurate ("the Pre is instead targeted at people buying their first smartphone, though this may still put it in competition with the iPhone"), who's gonna pay $399 for fewer features than an iPhone?
399?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
Ahhhh....
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
... not when the iPhone can be had for 199. Silly suds: they finally have a good product, only to price it out of contention. Ahhh well.
wow.
I hope for Palm's sake that the price is lower that.
Hold On
Lets wait until the phone actually becomes available before bashing it on price.
As for the phone, well, I'm impressed. I won't buy one, I'm in the market for an iPhone, but I'm impressed nonetheless. Nothing like the fear of actually going under for a company to cut out all the BS and actually do some real creative work. I hope this works for Palm, success with this will hopefully drive the company to actually create new and interesting products.
I think it's smart of them to focus on networks like Sprint and Verizon too since they don't have the iPhone they won't have to compete against them, well, directly anyways. There are some people who just hate some cell companies for one reason or another, and some who just don't have ATT in the area.
In all seriousness,
Honestly, in all seriousness, I hope this leads Palm's revival.