UK Palm Pre Out October 16th!
The tip we received yesterday was solid, as we now know Palm will be unleashing the Pre on the UK market from October 16th, two weeks earlier than the predicted end-of-October slot. We already knew O2 had bagged the Pre exclusively, leaving only the cost...
If you take a 24 month contract, the Pre will be free and come with 600 minutes, 500 SMS and cost £34.26 per month. If you decide on an 18 month contract you'll have the choice of paying £29.38 or £34.26 per month and £96 for the phone, or take the phone for free if you agree on a monthly cost of £44.05 or £73.41. Regardless of which plan you choose, unlimited data and BT OpenZone Wi-Fi usage will be included.
So, the Pre will undercut the iPhone 3GS, be around the same as the iPhone 3G but be more expensive than both the HTC Magic and the HTC Hero. Germany will see the Pre slightly earlier on the 13th October, where it will also be available without a contract for 483 Euros.
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Has Palm Waited Too Long for Euro Pre Launch?
We are, of course, talking about the Palm Pre, which was released in the USA on June 6th. Since then, speculation has been based around Palm's statement the Pre would be released in Europe before the 'holidays' - read Christmas - and a vague rumour O2 in Germany would have the Pre on sale in October. The Palm UK site still has the generic email request page and O2 UK has the same information we do: out in time for Christmas.
So, the question is, if it's out at Christmas, will anyone still want it? In the USA, the Pre is carried by Sprint, who are now so disappointed by the sales figures they are turning to Android phones to take up the slack. In fact, the estimated sales figures are expected to be around 800,000 by year-end, a considerably lower amount than the 1.5 million initially expected.
If relatively few were excited enough about the Pre to purchase one, in a country where there are far fewer smartphone options than in Europe, when it was new on the market, how will a six-month old device fare here? Palm shouldn't expect success in Europe, as there are now too many alternatives out and stealing customers.
And this is the reason the Pre is set to fail in Europe. Apple had the sense to launch the 3GS at almost the same time in Europe as they did in the USA, the Android-powered HTC Hero, Samsung i7500 and the PAYG Pulse are all out or out very soon, not to mention the N97, N900 and new Windows Mobile 6.5 phones vying for smartphone users cash. A customer taking a 12 or 24 month contract on any of these in the next three months is another user Palm can kiss goodbye.
The buzz was there in June and July, and this was when it should have launched. The mobile world moves far too fast to sit on a product for six months, especially when the only special thing about it is the OS and anyone who'll buy a phone due to the OS will have moved onto the next big thing ages ago. We've read all about it, seen the pictures and now, since we couldn't buy one, we've forgotten all about it.