O2 inked as UK's official Pré distributor O2 may have secured itself as the UK’s exclusive Palm Pré distributor, it’s been revealed. An unnamed source has told The Guardian that the network operator fought off fierce competition from the likes of Vodafone and Orange, and that the Pré will arrive here in time for Christmas. If the information’s accurate then O2 will …
So you can only get a Pre from O2? So wheres the boo boys who usually hate on Apple for having an exclusive deal with O2? Or is that venom reserved for Apple?
More seriously it'll be interesting seeing the Pre go head to head with the iPhone on the same network in terms of performance and pricing.
If Palm had just released the Pré months ago, no-one would care, it would have just been another smart phone. By not releasing for so long Palm have had much more publicity for the thing. Not that I'm saying it was intentional, but all these delays have certainly helped raise the profile of the Pré.
If they have given O2 an exclusive deal, it will make comparing it with the iPhone much easier, presumably we can expect them to be on similar contracts. Will be interesting to see how this goes down.
Just to point out to the haters out there that if you provide your handset to a small (or single) provider, you can then get guaranteed service levels agreed. This although losing a small number of customers initially by people who won't change it will mean that your handsets get higher ratings as the customers with those will get higher rated customer service than the great unwashed.
Whether it actaually works in practice or not I don't know but it sounds right in theory.
A healthy company does not announce a new product until it is generally available, this not to cannibalize current products.
When Palm announced the Pre back around x-mas lots of customers put buying a Treo/Centro on hold until they could test the Pre. I believe most of them have moved away from Palm now.
With the new Jesusphone v3 around the corner, I believe the Pre will be outdated once it ships.
Why did they do that. Why stick your phone on the shelf next to the iPhone which get so much press and PR so which one is a lazy shop assistant going to push. Surley Orange who flogged the palm based Treo faithfully for years are a better bet. Also Orange have no exclusive smart phone as Voda have the Storm and O2 the iPhone.
I used to Love my old Palm Pilot, Palm V and Palm TX, but they have now been replaced by an iPhone, which (and dont hit me) I love like my first palm all those years ago (even though the diary is worse!)
And I still dont forgive palm for ditching graffiti and putting a keyboard on all their phones.
The main reason I've not signed up for an iPhone is because it would involve early termination of a long Vodafone Business contract and the porting of several numbers to those disorganised clowns at O2. It makes no sense from any perspective.
The principal reason I will not be getting the Pré is because it would involve... well, I think you get the idea.
Palm, why are you getting into bed with O2 when 75% of the market is signed up to their competition? Why are you locking customers to one mobile operator when that operator is already spending millions marketing your #1 rival?
Ah well, one less shiny new thing on which to waste money...
Perhaps this means O2 are losing their exclusivity of the iPhone..
Having said that i've been on O2, T-Mobile and Three over the last 5-6 years and O2 easily have the best customer service, signal strength and the widest range of handsets. T-Mobile were had good customer service but it just took them too long to get the latest handsets. And Three.. well ... I could never get reception in my house...
I'm expecting other carriers apart from O2 in the UK to start selling the unreleased refreshed iphone.
It may even be on sale by multiple carriers - Pre exclusivity may well be designed to go up against voda & tmob's gphones - with all uk networks able to carry iphones they need a new hook.
As others have pointed out, it makes absolutely no sense for Palm to get in to bed with someone who also has exclusivity on the i-phone.
On the other hand, I can't see apple renewing the exclusive deal with O2 if they start selling the Pre. Perhaps O2 already know that they are not going to stay exclusive on the i-phone indefinitely and are hedging their bets?.
Is the unlocked i-phone on its way?
So if o2 lose the iphone exclusive - does that mean I won't get my free upgrade when jPhone v3 is released?? :(
As for Palm going exclusive with o2 - I know a big bonus for using o2 with the iPhone is that it joins public wifi hotspots seamlessly when available, my experience with tmobile was the complete opposite - even with the username/password page popping up all the time, it rarely recognised the login and I couldn't use it (even though I paid so much more a month for data as well as normal contract).... so maybe Palm were given a presentation of o2's decent hotspot deals, whilst avoiding their p*ss-poor 3g speeds. Just a thought.
It's been a good move from tmobile to o2 for me... much happier now... each to their own I guess.
"... the Pré will arrive here in time for Christmas ..."
Pointless, utterly. By Christmas Palm will have so much other competition that it will be drowned out by the rest of the noise. No wonder the company is ailing - they can't get a simple bit of marketing and release right.
Palm Pre? Why? When there will be more than a dozen other devices to choose from.
Another case of missing the boat completely.
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