After weeks of speculation, Palm have finally sent out a press release naming their exclusive network in the UK, and in a move sure to surprise absolutely no-one, it’s going to be O2. The news has come straight from the horse’s mouth, in this Palm press release.
Yup, as predicted, the Palm Pre is going to be an O2-exclusive, in the UK, Ireland and Germany. And Telefónica (O2’s parent company) will be selling it elsewhere in Europe (oh, and from the other side of the table, according to our news section, O2 have also sent out a press release confirming their exclusive deal with Palm).
Annoyingly, though, what the press release doesn’t clearly state is the release date. They simply say it’ll be released ‘in time for the holidays’, which actually seems to go against them saying that Europe is an important territory, as the ‘holiday season’ is a phrase used pretty much only in the USA and Canada, and not Europe, and it signifies the period around Thanksgiving (which we don’t celebrate) and Christmas.
Sorry, got sidetracked by them talking Americanese, there.
Right, so, the holiday season begins at the end of November, right? So realistically, we’re looking at a November release over here for the Palm Pre, which does, I have to concede, sound about right. The tail end of October, through to the start of December is usually when the big hitters in the phone world get released, just in time to hit that Christmas rush, so yep, I reckon some time in November is when we should expect the Palm Pre to land on these shores.
Of course, the big question is whether O2 being so absolutely adamant about getting the Palm Pre is an indicator that they’ve lost exclusivity on its rival, the iPhone.
But that’s a story for another day…
More news as it happens! And be sure to subscribe now to get all the latest action from the world of mobile phones!
July 7th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
oh what are palm doing, if they leave it till Christmas it will be dead on arrival.
and fingers crossed for iphone on other networks !!!