Canada’s Bell to get the Palm Pre in 2H; could TELUS follow soon after?
Good news for Canadians who have been so patiently waiting for news as to which carrier will be offering the Palm Pre — Bell has announced that it will be offering Palm’s first WebOS powered device some time in the second half of 2009. As one would expect, both Bell and Palm are not offering up any specific pricing details or a release time-frame other than 2H. Of particular interest in the press release is the language that Bell used as it noted that the Pre “will debut in Canada exclusively on Bell”, language that could indicate it will not be the sole carrier. Could it be that TELUS will eventually be offering the Pre as well? Or is the mysterious GSM version of the Pre headed to Rogers? Time will tell, but for now we’re content enough with the fact that Canadians finally know where they need to be to get their Pre fix asap.
What does 2H mean? And Jesus! Could there be a GSM version in the works? Launching on t-mobile?
Maybe?
2H = 2nd half of the year.
If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a bank. So….vague…
based on the way they’ve handled the release for the phone in the U.S., if all there’re saying is it’ll be released in 2H, then you can expect the phone to be released in November/December. i don’t know why those @$$holes don’t just say 4Q rather than give people the false hope that it could possibly be released in 3Q.
Bell mentioned in its launch that this an exclusive, so sorry — no Telus version for awhile.
GSM is already known to be coming, but don’t expect it on AT&T anytime soon. The Palm Eos (think Centro with multi-touch and webOS) will have to do in the short term.
Bell Mentioned that this is exclusively debuting, ie exclusive at launch. Telus used similar language when they announced the blackberry storm and the next day, Bell announced the storm, so there is a likelihood that this handset may find its way to telus as well.
Oh…God. Give us USA folks a release date already! Im milking my pants over here!
This is the first ‘official’ phone I ever wanted OVER the iphone.
Just release it already so I can indulge!
So, this is coming out fall towards Christmas season in the US?
When ever I watch tv now I notice the pre on all the Sprint commercialism, but they aren’t selling it or presenting any official plans of releasing it. Sprint’s marketing people are sinking this phone.
Sprint and Palm killed any real chance this phone had by making everyone wait soooo long. If they were going to take this long, they shouldnt have announced it so soon. I can only speak for myself but I really wanted this phone but I couldnt wait any longer so I got a G1 and absolutely love it. I am not going to be getting a Pre now. I bet there a lot of people out there that did something similar.
It will be released 6 months after Sprint releases it..which makes it between November 15 – December 1st. Just my guess.
The “exclusive” means nothing if past launches are anything to go by. One of the above posters was only partially correct in the Storm launch mention. TELUS had the Storm as exclusive on their site for a day, and it was quickly taken down as it never was exclusive to either provider.
On the other hand, both TELUS and Bell have launched exclusive devices, but the beauty is that it’s typically only exclusive for the first month before those chains are broken and it show up elsewhere. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case here. The word “exclusive” could be a day, a week or a month who knows, but my bet is no later than 30 days after Bell hits the market, TELUS will follow suit.
Well, it’s being featured on the Bell website (http://www.bell.ca), so I’m betting it will be released long before June.
Its just about bragging rights/an edge for a limited time. With the CRTC having a tight grip on the carriers in Canada, a real exclusive with a hot commodity will never happen…
I wish T-Mobile USA would get this.
I can not wait for this phone! I love Palm and I was soooooo excited when I heard about the Pre!!!
And I dont think it will take as long as 6 months for it to be released at bell. Probably a few weeks to a month after the US release. Just like with the storm
As soon as Palm realizes how much of Western Canada doesn’t have access to Bell Mobility serivce they’ll do an agreement with Telus.
I think this will be out Q2 not 2H
read more at
http://investor.palm.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=382075