Palm Pre Roundup
Image courtesy engadget
Seldom does a single phone stimulate so much conversation, so many rumors and so much lust. The Palm Pre is such a phone, and I can tell you — having seen one in person — that it’s worthy of the conversation. Let’s take a look at the current crop of Palm Pre news, views and rumors bouncing around the intrawebs.
There still is no official word as to when we can expect the release of the Pre. There are so many people waiting to get in line for one (Kevin and I, for example) but still silence from Sprint and Palm as to when exactly that might be. We’ve heard almost every date imaginable thrown about; the latest rumored release is slated for the day before Apple’s WWDC on June 7. That would put Palm’s big release announcement out in time to steal some thunder out of any possible iPhone 3.0 announcement that Apple might make. Who knows; it’s anyone’s guess at this stage.
The big Palm Pre news this week doesn’t even deal with the Pre. The phone is not released yet but word is leaking out about a cheaper version rumored to be released late this year. The Pre Centro, touted as the Palm Eos, is to the Pre what the Centro was to the Treo. Smaller, cheaper, lighter and designed to appeal to the masses. The Eos is rumored to be going to AT&T, so maybe Palm is hedging their bets on a possible less-than-stellar financial performance from Sprint.
I don’t know about the Eos and its value to Palm. It seems to me that word of a cheap Pre being available so soon after the Pre launch might make quite a few folks wait for the Eos. That wouldn’t be good for Palm, which is so desperate to bail out the sinking ship. While the Centro sold millions for Palm, I do believe it must have killed off quite a few Treo purchases that would have happened. Maybe Palm should just concentrate on getting the most out of the Pre for as long as possible.
Of course, if you listen to the analysts this may all be a moot point. Says Ashok Kumar: “In our opinion, it is highly unlikely customers of AT&T or Verizon will switch to Sprint. Across the pond, carriers are taking a wait and see attitude given the high platform cost and lack of conviction on sell through. If Sprint does not match or beat AT&T’s subsidized iPhone price of $199, which translates to a subsidy in excess of $200, the Pre is DOA.” Ouch.
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You have got to be kidding me. Even a smaller phone? Who wants a smaller phone. Everybody gets bigger because you can actually use it. This s$@# is completely unusable. Why such a small device with webos? I don’t need webos when I can see nothing on the screen … screw that …
I was totally expecting palm to be build a nice device
like 4.0 inch screen with a better softkeyboard Then the other ones so you actually enjoy the browsing experience and everything you can do with it. Cannot see anything on that screena and sure not hit the tiny buttons.Just silly!
Very disappointing Palm!!!!
The Dark Lord
I suspect the Centro sucked life out of the Treo, but also out of Palm itself because it was just poorly built. The Centro Pro may be too late to ameliorate that. Rumors of a Pre Centro coming out now are just bad PR.
another quality phone that’s not coming to verizon. Loving the qwerty keyword and the slim design.
I was totally surprised at how well the Centro did – I can not stand that device, but I am an old man! I think they (Palm) believe they need to get multiple devices out ASAP to finally kill off POS and to capture upgrades for the Centro. But I agree that having this leaked now – even before the Pre gets out the door – is not good. I think folks on ATT that were going to the Pre will probably still go, but still – get the Pre out the door and sell the heck out of it!
PS – I am also with the Dark Lord on size – I wish they would have made the screen just a little bigger and I hope they come out with a bigger, touch screen only device later on. I have a Touch Pro now and find that I really don’t use the kb all that much (it is nice when I do need it, but I can learn to use anything – well, except the Centro).