Comments on: In defense of Sprint and the Palm Pre

An internal AT&T document attacks the Palm Pre for being inferior to the Apple iPhone, but CNET editor Bonnie Cha defends the Pre--and Sprint.

[cvaldes1831]

I would love to see a followup post six months from now rating the accuracy of your commentary here. If you are wrong in most of your opinions, would you dare post such a followup? Discuss.

[Austinite007]

I like what the Palm Pre has to offer. I want to also point out that Sprint's plan pricing is much better than AT&T's. For an individual line, Sprint has unlimited voice/text/data for $99.99/month, $89.99/month gives you 900 minutes with nights and weekends starting at 7:00pm NOT 9:00pm (with AT&T 7:00pm costs an additional $8.99/month) with unlimited text/data, $69.99/month gives you 450 minutes with N&W also starting at 7:00pm with unlimited text/data. Sprint also gives you the option of getting insurance for Palm Pre (AT&T does not offer insurance with the iPhone). Also, Sprint will allow corporate or government monthly discounts on most of their plans (I am not so sure if AT&T allows monthly plan discounts on any of the iPhone plans). I suspect that a fair number of people will be lured to switch to Sprint as a main driving factor being the monthly plan pricing in combination with the availability of the Palm Pre, not a bad choice for most of us having to deal with a bad economy right now.

[ofmyony]

- I heard that the Pre may have a couple of different plan offerings (Bad for AT&T).
- Bonnie should like the Pre because of the physical keyboard.
- Running background apps is huge.
? Will the Pre be able to do video.
? Will the Touchstone sway customers. I know it's a small thing but I think it's cool and cool things sway consumers.

Remember this is one of many new Web OS phones coming. If the Pre is a success at all, you can expect more Iphone competitors coming from Palm. Apple is concerned and rightly so. The Pre has a lot of support from the tech community and if it rubs off on the general public you could see a shift in the market.

[gerrrg]

I'd consider an iPhone, but it costs too much and it's on the network, whose company is evil. I call it "evil" because it tried to step on WiMax for its own benefit in the marketplace, with really idiotic arguments. Not that I'd consider Sprint and Palm, as Palm is nearly as distasteful as AT&T, and Sprint has had its own share of problems, and why I stopped using my Palm PDA and why I switched from Sprint years ago.

Thus, I'm with TMo and G1.

I'll be letting AT&T know how I feel about this. I was really hoping they would pick up the pre once Palm opens things up. Guess I'll have to switch to Sprint. But I do have to say I'm tired of Iphone vs Pre, how can you have a comparison when one isn't out yet?

[askmrlee]

Yes AT&T and T-Mobile have better worldwide coverage. However, when I was in Rio 5 years ago I turned on my Sprint Palm Treo 600 just to see what would happen and I discovered I had 5 bars. Yes CDMA is not worldwide like GSM, but it does work in Brazil, major Chinese cities and India. If you want free Wi-Fi at AT&T's Starbucks spots, anyone can do so with a registered Starbucks card and get 2 hours free. You need more than 2hrs? Get a life or get AT&T DSL. Where does AT&T get off charging $20 to 30/month for data and $20 for unlimited texting on top of your voice plan?

[doncrowley]

The Pre can: do flash, view all videos on a web page. better camera phone. Apps - sure! But the apple app store has been going since July 2008 at least. less wireless = BS! Lots of cheap and meaningless potshots. The lack of gsm is an issue. We'll see how the price issue is. The apple user interface (UI) is not always intuitive, but some of it is brilliant. Palm have a great history on delivering great UI's.

All this means to me is that Apple inc. is scared. The Pre is different and as useful as an iPhone. It too will be a really great smart phone imo. Now all Apple has to do is take their product up a notch or 2 -> flash, in a webpage view videos, better camera, video phone, video broadcast to services like qik. Less is not more if you want it all!

[adrian_fd]

I completely agree that it should be about giving consumers a choice. This is especially important now that AT&T and Apple are in talks to lock up the exclusive rights to the iPhone for another two years. Frankly, it's nice to to see Sprint finally getting a more or less comparable phone. Also, both Apple and Palm are talking about adding the much sought after Flash support in the near future, which will open a world of web capabilities that have mobile users have been locked out from to this point.

I'm starting to think that the "Pre" maybe a real success. I hope so.

[TNTatSUN]

A couple of thinks I feel are important. There are big differences between the Consumer and Enterprise spaces and although there are a number of companies who's employees use the iPhone, that does not make it a good choice for the Enterprise. I could give you a list of reasons why I have not selected it in the past and will not be selecting it for our next refresh but will mention only 3.

1. - Cost to support
2. - Screen is single point of failure (and is fragile)
3 - Single Carrier (US)

Not to mention that the iPhone is just that, a phone/device. The Palm Pre, is a phone as well but represents what is to come in terms of OS and capability. I am certain that Palm is already talking to carriers world wide in terms of requirements and would bet my house that you will find a number of devices, in CDMA or GSM.

Apple's need to control every aspect of their products is what makes them so slick. But it is also what will end up limiting them and eventually killing them in the end.

Watch and see - and I think Palm at $10/share is a deal

[TNTatSUN]

A couple of thinks I feel are important. There are big differences between the Consumer and Enterprise spaces and although there are a number of companies who's employees use the iPhone, that does not make it a good choice for the Enterprise. I could give you a list of reasons why I have not selected it in the past and will not be selecting it for our next refresh but will mention only 3.

1. - Cost to support
2. - Screen is single point of failure (and is fragile)
3 - Single Carrier (US)

Not to mention that the iPhone is just that, a phone/device. The Palm Pre, is a phone as well but represents what is to come in terms of OS and capability. I am certain that Palm is already talking to carriers world wide in terms of requirements and would bet my house that you will find a number of devices, in CDMA or GSM.

Apple's need to control every aspect of their products is what makes them so slick. But it is also what will end up limiting them and eventually killing them in the end.

Watch and see - and I think Palm at $10/share is a deal

[iroq321]

correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't the back of the iphone also plastic?
and 205 countries? really?
that chart shows no detailed tech info...not to mention it looks like it was made by a kindergatener who just put in stuff they've heard around the snack table.

[pollmak]

The mobile/Cell phone is dead! Long live the Smart Phone.
The Pre is the perfect fusion of the iphone and the blackberry. It is not trying to be either or. It just a good fusion of two great devices.
I hope the Pre is going to be a great success. if they are, then we will all be winners as competition brings down prices.
The Pre is setting a new Paradigm with a few of it's innovations and the rest will soon follow.
Everyone is going on about comparing the iPhone to the Palm Pre and whether iPhone users would migrate to the Palm pre, when I think more Blackberry users that iPhone users will migrate to the Palm Pre. Blackberry still have a HUGE market share, and their Flagship Storm is only ok, and not Great.

[Thug541]

Wow, some of the posts in here are laughable.

And i'm so sick and tired of people comparing WebOS web apps are the same as the iPhone ones announced back in the day.

ITS NOT.

The iPhone web apps needed the internet to run and were not locally cached. They were only good for simple games. We've already seen WebOS apps that are identical to their iPhone counterparts and because web apps are so light, you can expect much better battery performance vs. the iPhone.

Grow up people.

[Zsoldier]

The palm Pre is going to be interesting no doubt, but with the new iPhone 3.0 OS supporting accessories, I see it's popularity exploding because of third-party accessories being a huge buying point, much like the amount of accessories available for iPods vs. other mp3 player brands.

[infinitely]

Just bizarre. The way it's written is pathetically unprofessional.

[derelicte37]

I TOTALLY agree with Bonnie, but I won't blame Apple on this one. I think Apple was asked to comment on the Pre the other day on their financial call and they basically said that they can't and won't until it comes out. ...It's kinda like AT&T's trying to pick a fight while standing behind their "buff best friend" (Apple).

What they SHOULD be doing is trying to fix their own product *cough...3G* rather than try and defend (or attack) another's

[hameiri]

I'm one who likes competition from other companies than Apple. Apple does not believe in freedom, as in freedom of choice. They are always deciding what I need.

Well, I think I need a Pre. I just hope they provide a version with Nextel's Direct Connect!

[Hellcat]

This more sounds like an Apple thing than an AT&T. I mean this almost sounds like another Mac Vs. PC bs smear champagne. I almost expect to see Iphone vs Palm Pre commercials coming. Anything that threatens Apple they just smear and lie and try and squash it. IF the Pre lives up to the hype. It doesn't have to even live up to all the hype just most of it and this could backfire on Apple...just like if Windows 7 lives up to the hype (and I'm testing it and so far it is), this could be bad for Apple.

Sprint has had its ups and downs, but since they got a CEO its been steadily getting better. I've had many dropped calls (certain areas where no cell signal from any provider). The 3G is fast and the 4G is coming soon. My friend who has AT&T has dropped calls often and he sounds like a robot a lot of the time when I talk to him. AT&T in my house is also awful while Sprint is pretty good.

I've been VERY impressed with what I've seen of the Pre. People who say they'd rather the Iphone any day over the Pre before it even comes out are just Apple Fanboys and even if the Pre lives up to 100% of the type they'll still say they love their Iphone and swear its better than the Pre. Pretty sad if you ask me.

[patrick_i]

I think it is pointless to argue about which is better. Each has it's compromises and advantages. You just have to pick which one suits your needs or wants best. For me, I prefer the iPhone mostly because of it's large screen and it's flexibility. The iPhone is a decent gaming platform, a great video/audio device, a decent phone, a decent messaging device, a good PDA, a good IT device (it's capable of VPN and remote control, and yes you can drag and drop files to it using apps), and whether it can becomes a good productivity device (edit docs and prinitng) remains to be seen. There is no other platform that can do what it does so easily. And you don't need IT or tech support (unlike Blackberry) to use it. I'm not much of a texter or a messager so something like a Blackberry wouldn't suit me. I've had to support many platforms including Symbian, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile and the iPhone, even with its few shortcomings, is a better platform overall.