Palm Pre Plus hits AT&T, mean anything for iPhone?
Our sibling site PreCentral.net has their usually full review of the AT&T Palm Pre Plus, and with today's launch it becomes a second full, capacitive multitouch device being offered on the exclusive US iPhone carrier. What does that mean?
Up until today AT&T's top level consumer smartphone lineup was iPhone -- iPhone 3G on the low end and iPhone 3GS on the high end. There were BlackBerry's to be sure, but not touchscreen or particularly consumer appealing. And don't even get us -- or our buddies from Android Central -- started about AT&T's Android efforts thus far.
But now consumers who must have internationally friendly GSM can choose the Palm Pre Plus, and perhaps a full screen, multitouch BlackBerry Bold 9800 slider come this summer. You know, when the 4th generation iPhone (iPhone HD/iPhone 4G) usually has that market, and marketing all to itself.
We'll ask again, without the faintest trace of Verizon in our question, what does that mean for AT&T and the iPhone? And who'll be picking up the Palm Pre Plus over the iPhone?
Editor-in-Chief of iMore, Executive Producer at Mobile Nations, co-host of Iterate and ZEN and TECH, cook, grappler, photon wrangler.
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I think it's great, more competition= better iPhones and better updates.
but how can there be competition when there's no competition...?
Sorry pre. Ur too late to the party. 3.2" screen is a joke nowdays too when we have devices like the evo with a 4.3". This comes from a former pre user who left for the iPhone. Update ur hardware and revise ur sdk and then maybe we can talk.
The Palm sparks my curiosity but I have so much money vested into the iPhone I would need to buy a iPod Touch/w Camera along with the pre to make me convert.
webOS has a future. HP ensures that. I agree with jaime. Right now the competition is coming out with HD screens, HD video recording and WiFi hub capabilities. Plus, 4G is here now and will cover over 100 million by the end of the year. To buy a year old device and claim it's new is like Verizon getting the iPhone 3GS and claiming it's a new product when we all know that it is a year old. I'd like to see an HP built Palm device launch on AT&T before we can call this a fair fight since we will all compare the Pre Plus to the iPhone HD.
The iPhone could take a poo and it would sell for more than this.
i think at&t is getting more devices because they wont have exclusive rights come this summer.
This would be for first time customers. It gives you choices. Yes there are iPhone owners that may cross over to pre or android, but to go from the iPhone screen size to the pre is taking a step backwards. After palm dumped on customers that had the old browser without at least giving you the chance to upgrade, and taking too long to really develop a fantastic device. May be hp can make a great device.
Palm who? i thought this phone and OS was dead.
I agree with CupertinoSweat. I think AT&T's getting all of these devices because they'll soon lose exclusivity for the iPhone. It's good that Palm is finally getting their devices on multiple carriers. Having Sprint as the exclusive carrier for 6 months was a huge mistake given their financial position. But they still have a steep uphill climb. I mean, who's going to choose a Palm Pre when they can get an iPhone?
A challenger appears!
you guys speak like the iPhone is for everyone with statements like "who will buy a Pre when then can get an iPhone." I can give you the answer, a person who wants a Pre. There is no phone that is the perfect phone for EVERYONE and stop being so naive into thinking just because you like a phone there is absolutely no way someone should buy anything other.
Maybe I am a hard person to please, I have numerous phones, an Incredible, Bold 9700, Palm Pre (soon to be EVO 4G) and an iPhone 3G ( sits in glove compartment) When people ask me which which one I would recommend to them, I begin to ask questions because for me to assume a phone is the perfect phone for them because I like it is not the right thing to do.
evo right now is the only competition for the iphone.. maybe when palm gives sprint new hardware then we can compare..
did i miss something. the moto backflip is full capacitive isnt it?
Ya know what's wonderful about the Pre? It doesn't waste screen space with buttons for navigating around the app/UI like every iPhone app does. The gesture area helps conserve screen space for useful information. Check out side by side the amount of info that you see in the Pre's browser and the iPhone's browser. It's the same and the iPhone has a .2in bigger screen (diagonally) than the Pre. Booya.
Even with the free Touchstone, do you think that AT&T is going to be able to sell as many as Verizon and their cheaper prices and BOGO's? I'll give it to Big Red, they're evil enough to sell the device cheap coming in then charging a $350 ETF on the way out.
No, the Pre Plus will not cut into iPhone sales. Don't get me wrong, I had a Pre on Sprint for 4 months, but iPhone already has the control over the hardware-software style phone that Palm is trying to get back into. WebOS is smooth, easy to use, and intuitive, but it lacks any real compelling feature over the iPhone.
Android is the threat Apple should worry about when ATT finally gets a legit Android phone. The Backflip is a crappy, low-end Android phone; exactly what ATT wants to ensure that they don't give Apple competition on their own network. It would be a bad business move for ATT to introduce a really great Android phone, upset Apple, and loose exclusivity over the iPhone. ATT will continue to offer poor competitors to the iPhone to keep Steve Jobs happy.
An HSPA Pre IS a big deal. The big problem with the PRE is that you can't use data and voice. No more!
And the iPhone doesn't have a keyboard (to some people that is a really big deal). The iPhone won't become a wifi hotspot (not that it can't, just that our Feurer won't allow it).
The PRE doesn't have Big Mother deciding what you can do with it.
I love my iPhone but I hate Apple. Give me a good alternative and I'm outa here! Maybe this is it?
Correction... I see that AT&T has blocked the hotspot feature. Sucks to be you.
I expect that when we see it in Canada it WILL be the ideal phone to have with an iPad.
Is this pre plus international friendly? Or will AT&T LOCK it down so you can't buy a travel sim?
It could be that picking up this phone is a bluff, a negotiations ploy.
It could be an attempt to build a relationship with HP early.
Or they could have seen the next iPhone and decided it was not going to be compelling enough to warrant their exclusive pride of place treatment they reserve for Apple.
They seriously need a topend android phone in their stable. I'm not sure they needed a Webos phone.
@Random
I agree with both your points.
This move to the Pre is very odd. Perhaps it was just Dirt Cheap.
AT&t really needs a good Android phone .. They should have Eric Schmidt on the phone TODAY begging to handle the Nexus One.
i think its a nice idea but truthfully theres no competition. If your going to be paying the same price for the data plan i dotn think there will be too many people picking the palm pre plus without second guessing themselves if they should get an iphone. When trying to compare the two i dont think many will be selecting the pre... but i agree with a lot of people it will put a little pressure on apple to keep the iphone fresh and up to date with good tech.
AT&T getting all these phones has nothing to do with the iPhone there a carrier there not just going to sell one device not everyone likes the iPhone so of course there going to have different phones on hand. And may I ask do people like Charles say they have a different phone on each carrier just curious. I mean I have money but kind of silly to have all them phones. Maybe these people have multi personalites.
As an iPhone user, I'm going to be switching over to the Pre. It's multitasking is much betterbthan what's promised in OS4. Also while the screen may be smaller, it actually seems to have better multitouch gestures than the iPhone. Hard to believe, but it's true at least for the unit I tested in an AT&T store. Hello competition!
man that's one ulgy phone
Ugh noo, only way I would change from my 32gb 3GS is if the htc evo came over which won't happen.
I'm glad they got the PPP because their phone line up was pretty sad. It's iPhone and then a bunch of phones I didn't care about.
In reference to what ' Don ' said , it would be a perfect idea if apple created the hotspot feature for the fourth generation iPhone. Then alllll the people with iPhones will be a better chance of getting an ipad since they don't have to get an additional data plan.
The money we spend on our AT&T bills and on apple devices we should get this benefit.
"who’ll be picking up the Palm Pre Plus over the iPhone?"
No one, no one on Verizon took it over the Droid, no one bought it on Sprint either and that's where it started. Why would any carrier choose to sell this over their flagship device? The Pre was never marketed right, it's too small and when it was on Sprint the build was flimsy and junk.
I've seen one person with the Pre, just one. WebOS is nice, the Pre probably would of sold a lot more if it was a lot bigger, and had removable memory.
One could have gotten an unlocked, no contract AT&T Nexus One about 6 weeks ago. However, not a lot of people will fork over 550+ USD on a cell phone from an online store.
One thing I'm sure AT&T did with the Pre+ is only order something like 50,000 units and probably tried or did renegotiate the subsidy. Considering there were upwards of 1 million webOS devices in the Sprint and Verizon channel, there's basically no point for AT&T buy a lot of these as Sprint and Verizon will be undercutting them trying to get rid of the dead weight.
I think it is meaningless to the iPhone. And it doesn't speak to anything about losing exclusivity with AT&T. When Palm and AT&T were negotiating their contract, I bet it was in January and February, before all Palm issues started to come out, and AT&T was thinking it would get a nice horse for their stable.
But once we learned there were up to a million webOS devices sitting in Verizon and Sprint channels, the Pre and Pixi became dead phones. Surprised AT&T didn't cancel the contract.
Who cares. I would rather see some more quality Android devices for ATT instead of that crap Motorola device they offer now.
I expect it would do quite well with free mobile hotspot!
I wish the phone manufacturers would not sign exclusive deals with carriers. That way the mobile phone market would be more competative and benefitial for consumers.
The logic behind this post and the one regarding the Blackberry 9800 is flawed. People don't necessarily get the iPhone because they are with AT&T; they go with AT&T because they are the only one who offers it. AT&T is simply attracting groups of buyers who wouldn't have been interested in the iPhone to begin with.
If apple and the new Iphone HD/4G??? dont just blow my mind. i will get the HTC EVO 4G. Because that weak and haggard prototype they have floating around is no bueno..... Apple please tell me you are joking with this hole leaked and stolen new iphone bit.. Because that phone has nothing to offer over any of the new android phones... Lets be real here, the screen is smaller on the prototype and is showing nothing impressive. Oh what about the new 4.0 OS??? Alright sure thats something new but this is apples first attempt to give is multitasking, but I still have not seen anything that is gonna rival what the EVO 4G is throwing out there. Or even the Droid Incredible, and the nexus one is still ahead of what the 3GS has spec whise. Look I love my 3GS but the more I read and see videso on the EVO 4G and Droid Incredible, then have to see this ugly Iphone HD/4G stolen and leaked Prototype I am upset. And as far as the pre plus on AT&T. Not bad good for them and users who want a brodend selection of smart phones. So please Apple do what you do best and just blow our minds with this new Iphone because the competition is not behind us anymore they have now jumped to the head of the game.............
To sell in significant numbers the ATT Pre Plus must have free mobile hotspot like the Verizon version.
Been waiting for a almost a year for the Pre (Plus) to come over to AT&T. I refuse to deal with Apple's nonsense closed architecture and lack of multitasking/Flash. Having a USB port and a real keyboard that doesn't eat up half the screen are the deal-closers.
They have the Pre to give agents to sell other than the less than stellar Backflip. The agents who are lucky enough to carry the iphone don't get compensated (virtually none, about $25/phone, nothing on iphone features). AT&T needs to get with the program and compensate these agents so consumers aren't confused when they walk into an agent's store and are detoured from buying the iphone. How confusing is that? The best at&t agent employees are former Verizon employees who are used to selling against iphone. Get with the program at&t. Stop the confusion and the divisiveness between agents and Cor stores. I would think at this point you would like to gain market share any way possible. If that means compensating your agents, so be it!
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