AT&T wants the Palm Pre after Sprint
(Credit:
Bonnie Cha/CNET)
Speaking at the D Conference in Carlsbad, Calif., AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson spent the better part of Wednesday morning defending AT&T's network and addressing complaints about how the carrier was ill-prepared to handle all the demands of the iPhone. It's an interesting discussion, which you can catch here in CNET News' Ina Fried's report.
However, here's something else of interest. During the discussion with host Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Stephenson added that he sees AT&T selling the Palm Pre once Sprint's exclusive deal with the smartphone is up. This is the first indication that other carriers will offer the Pre, though it's not clear how long Sprint has the exclusive.
It's also a good sign that a GSM version of the smartphone is in the works, which many of you Crave readers have been asking for. Palm has only admitted to a UMTS version of the Pre, which we actually got to see at GSMA 2009. In addition, AT&T is also rumored to be getting another Palm Web OS smartphone, the Palm EOS.
For now, the only version we'll be seeing in the near future is the Palm Pre for Sprint, which goes on sale June 6 at Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Wal-Mart stores nationwide.
(Source: Wall Street Journal via PhoneScoop)
Bonnie Cha is a senior editor for CNET, covering smartphones and GPS. When she's not testing the latest gadgets, you can find her chasing after her crazy lab or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California. E-mail Bonnie. 
1) Blackberry
2) Apple I-phone
3) Google Android
4) Nokia Symbian
5) Microsoft
Reason: Late market entry into an already saturated market. Plus Sprint is an under performing carrier.
Microsoft is playing catch-up, but that's a game they have proved themselves to be good at in the past. They still have deep pockets and aren't afraid to invest heavily in a market they consider to be critical. It will be interesting to see what they deliver.
From what I've been reading, the Pre will be less expensive, in the long run, on Sprint than it would be with AT&T's current rate plans. I'm almost tempted to incur an ETF from AT&T to get it, but it's hard to justify the expense of that, since it almost doubles the cost of the phone.
Believe me, if there's some what that it would work out economically in Sprint's favor, I would be one of the first people on line June 6! :)
Never?
Hacks.
The allure to handset manufacturers is probably the subsidies & associated marketing, but in the end, these agreements limit consumer choice and service plan competition.
The "buy whatever you want unlocked and use it on any operator model" for smartphones would probably result in a much freer & competitive market, but as long as there are huge profits associated with user lockin, it's not likely to happen.
Also, touting a 7.2 mbps "upgrade" is completely pathetic. China, Japan, Russia, etc all boast speeds in excess of 30 mbps - why? Because there is carrier competition and handsets are not tied exclusively to carriers. You're telling me AT&T can't bypass the stop-gap HSPA service straight to the LTE 4G network? They can, but why do it when no other telecom in the US will before them - it's much more cost effective to tout an "upgrade" to 7.2 mbps, charge more for that, then tout the upgrade to LTE 4G and charge more for that. Imagine how much we as consumers would benefit if the iPhone existed on both Verizon and AT&T (hardware caveats notwithstanding) and the carriers were forced to woo potential customers with price cuts in their service or guaranteed down/up speeds.
I'm just sick of paying for these incremental "upgrades" when we're not even close to other countries' down/up speeds.
i jsut donwanna wait 6 months for a GSM version of the Pre. i think its going to be a fabulous phone!! can't wait!! but i guess i HAVE to wait!! uhggggg!
how come the Sprint contract with Palm Pre isn't known yet? is it something they keep under wraps?
Anyway, Sprint has an excellent network, but when your phone customer service was as bad as it was a few years ago, you create a rep that's hard to shake. Now they have unlimited everything for $99. LOL it's almost like Sprint screwed up so bad a few years ago with their phone support that everyone wins now with a great value plan... oh yeah, the customer service issues are pretty much entirely fixed now too :)
I also laugh at the people who rip Sprint for CDMA. Guess what? Most people in this country don't leave this country, they don't care. Like I started this though, different strokes, man. People take things way too personal, if something works for you why care if the other guy likes something else because that works for him?
- by sahilk May 28, 2009 10:58 PM PDT
- i realize that Sprint is the top seller of Palm/Treo phones. But COME ON, pick a better provider, than Sprint, even T-MOBILE would do better. Although Verizon would be the best by making it a gsm/cdma phone. 80 Million PLUS customers. COME ON PALM WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??
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