Palm announcing something at MWC next month, GSM Pre likely
By Chris Ziegler 
posted Jan 21st 2009 9:47PM
posted Jan 21st 2009 9:47PM
Looks like Palm wants to play ball at Mobile World Congress in February, seeing how they've got a mysteriously password-protected site going called palmmwc2009.com -- a domain name that leaves little to the imagination. There's no telling what our new crush has in store, but if we had to guess, it'd probably be an official unveiling of the 3G GSM version of the Pre; MWC's a European show, after all, and the CDMA version isn't doing 'em much good over there. Either that, or they're unveiling a WiMAX Foleo... or maybe webOS was a smokescreen for the real Nova. Do us a big favor and contribute some baseless speculation in comments, alright?[Via Gearlog]
Update: Looks like Palm's already killed the site. Oopsie!
I sure hope Microsoft has their act together with WM6.5 come next month.
Palm Pre is definitely swinging, as is Android and the iPhone. I really want WM to succeed, or at least be competitive. Right now functionality is awesome, but UI is abysmal.
I agree completely. A new UI would mean the best of both worlds.
Windows Mobile will stay just the way it is and this Palm phone will never manage to get the same reception as the iPhone.
Sad but true
{the downrank button is up and to the right --->}
The major difference between android and palm is that everyone know what a palm is, but ask some one if they have ever heard of android and they will probably say no (had to spend ten minutes explaining what an OS is to my mom)
But, we don't need WM (or MS for that matter) to exist to have competition. They haven't had great ideas for long time. They can die.
Apple isn't going to take over the whole cell phone market. They've already stated they don't care about 1995-style dumb-phones.
There's always going to be ppl who (see: Engadget.com) will buy non-Apple devices out of spite.
@gonintendo
You're comparing the public's familiarity with the name of a mobile OS to their familiarity with the name of a company that designs a mobile OS.
Ask people what webOS is and they won't know. Ask them who Google is and they will.
Apple: Mr. Lawyers - please hurry up with our lawsuit before Palm release Pre to the public.
I don't think making the UI prettier will make WM any more easy to use. Sure functionality is great, but how do you get that same functionality in a better looking OS? Definitely not by just making the OS a little prettier. I think it's quite obvious that the new BB OS, while it may look slightly better, is still the old piece of junk, only text, java based OS it used to be. You need to start fresh, and think of the OS in an entirely new way, which is what Palm did with the Pre and WebOS. What WM needs to do, is start thinking about a new, fresh, innovative way of using an OS, while still keeping the functionality in there somewhere.
For myself, I am going to pick up a Pre as soon as it sells, because that is the balance I've been waiting for; good functionality with even more new functionality that doesn't even exist in BB or WM or any other mobile OS, while still looking sleek and sexy like an iPhone (which no one else has been able to do until now. iPhone is very sexy, but piece of crap when it comes to usability, and both BB and WM look so bad I have a hard time looking at it long enough to use it, WM more than BB).
Launch dates would be nice.
That and an expansion slot.
Yeah these two things would be a great weight off my shoulders, though release dates mean nothing when you come from Australia.... we don't get things till at least 12 months later and then at nearly double the price..... :(
I just want this for my new phone soon and I'll be a happy camper
...and pricing.
They are unveiling the real Nova for sure. Observe the name of the Pre - clearly it is just a beginning.
Well, it's unlikely, but it would be cool if they could pull out something that beats the Pre. It would create an interesting effect, as in: "here is our phone that supposedly beats the iPhone (the Pre), and here's ANOTHER phone which beats the phone that supposedly beats the iPhone"
It's the beginning of devices with WebOS/Nova... not the beginning of a 2 OS system. Which wouldn't work.
The site seems to have been removed already.
GSM Pre: Very much do want.
Please, Santa. I've been good, and you totally stiffed me in December. Bring me a Pre on AT&T, and all is forgiven.
@Smart People
That would be the Holy Grail for me.
I say GSM Pre, with Vodafone as initial partner in the UK.
I'd much rather they didn't tie it to a particular carrier! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they won't; Palm products are traditionally used for business, and if work pays for your contract it is difficult to change to another provider.
I want a GSM Pre. I think a GSM Pre is going to be my next phone.
Palm will be releasing 5 new devices and will totally pwn the mobile phone market.
You've got a 404 at the read link.
The Google cached version shows a page with login fields.
A CDMA network for Europe exclusively for Palm Pre?
I kid...but maybe a GSM Pre for Latin America? Plz?
AT&T + Palm Pre = Technology Heaven
AT&T + Apple iPhone = Meh.
FTW!!! Suck it iPhone!
AT&T = meh.
Their 3g network is not reliable.
I want to get rid of my iphone.
I used to like my iphone but some of the things it can't do, like video, are just annoying.
Why can't they just write the programs already??
p.s. Safari is crashes every five minutes. :(
Will it blend? That is the question.
Does anyone know the origin of the "can/does/will it blend" comment? I'm asking a genuine question - I really don't understand it. Is it some inside joke on engadget? I've never seen it on any other site.
The only thing I really understand about it is that most people are probably so far removed from being annoyed that they don't even bother to low-rank this comment anymore.
Shitty blender commercials
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_it_blend
@ unbiased.
The "Will It Blend" meme was created by K-Tec CEO - Tom Dickson to promote his industrial strength blenders. Particularly the Blendtec Total Home blender. On their website they have viral videos of Tom Dickson blending various things such as hockey pucks, baseballs, etc. The site really took off when they blended a Gen1 iPhone.
The viral marketing worked as I am a happy owner of a Blendtec Total Home blender and former owner of a Gen1 iPhone. Yes it eBay'd!
I sure wonder if [forgot name of the cool guy in the keynote that is a lead in the software side of the pre] read this :) I bet he had something to do with it going down so quick. He seemed like an extremely sharp guy, so I bet it was him! Especially with the engadget links on the pre.
i hope its a gsm verison. i tired of these apple lovers thinking the iphone is the greatest thing ever.
i know.,dont u hate people that are totally satisfied with their cellphones.,n decision making.
Why can't you knuckle heads talk about one phone without tearing down another phone?
'knuckle heads"
Seriously? What is this archaically old slang?
I think they accidentally the whole site!
I think I accidentally your whole comment!
I think you're right.
Btw, East of where?
Please, just go to Verizon, please!
All of the other carriers blow. In my area they have shoddy reception that drops everywhere you go. I really want a G1, especially since the monthly price with unlimited text is less than the iPhone and it has the mandatory (for me) keyboard, but T-Mobile's coverage sucks. And then the Palm Pre is announced, beautiful phone, great OS, smooth as butter... wait... SPRINT?! Sprint has even worse coverage than T-Mobile, they don't even have reception even near my house! At least T-Mobile would give me a bar if I stand in the right spot. AT&T would be alright, but they always drastically overcharge on these things, and their coverage still isn't as good as Verizon Wireless.
It's just a situation where nobody is the clear winner, and Verizon gets stuck with the worst damn phones.
Make that another vote for them waking up and providing a solution for Verizon customers. You take the world by surprise by providing an amazing product and then tie it to a loser like Sprint. Nice job on that.
trust me, it's sprint that has the worst phones. all of their lower end phones are just crap compared to the other carriers. sprint desperately needs this phone.
"but T-Mobile's coverage sucks. And then the Palm Pre is announced, beautiful phone, great OS, smooth as butter... wait... SPRINT?! Sprint has even worse coverage than T-Mobile"
Are you serious?? For the record Sprints 3G network is 5 times larger than ATT and 40 times larger than Tmo, just because YOU have an issue with coverage at YOUR location is miniscule compared to the size of the over all Network.
@ p3t3b2
'Larger' and 'better' are different, The amount of unpopulated land in Texas that's covered doesn't matter if you can't get a call through in a populated city.
@Giroro
Are you implying that ATT and Tmo have a better 3G Network than Sprint?! LOL!! IF you are you might want to have your water tested, it's been reported that Sprint has the best 3G Network. Many ATT customers are still having difficulty maintaining a signal on 3G, they get reverted back to Edge. I won't even go on about Tmo. In the meantime Sprint is preparing to roll out it's 4G Network which will be larger "and BETTER" than ATT and Tmo 3G Networks
Seconded, Palm should consider Verizon. They are the largest and highest rated carrier in the country (if Consumer Reports is to be believed), especially since they bought Alltel.
You guys don't seem to realize that the problem is not that Palm doesn't want to release a phone on Verizon. Why would Palm cut itself from the 2nd largest network (in terms of subscribers)?
The problem is that Verizon imposes so many constraints and requirements to phone manufacturers that they won't release a phone that doesn't do MMS their particular way, etc... The first Treos would not go through because they had chat style SMS instead of the old Inbox-style that was a requirement from Verizon. Their requirements JUST for SMS and MMS are about an inch thick, and if you don't do it their way, you have to justify why not... For every little thing, justify...
Another example would be their Mobile IM requirements... If it ain't IMPS (formerly known as Wireless Village), where they can charge for each IM like they do for an SMS, they don't want your device. I don't know if you've seen the IM experience in the Pre, but it is basically within the Messaging application and it is IP-based. It does NOT go through an IMPS gateway (where Verizon could count and bill), so they don't like it.
Bottom line is: Verizon is very inconducive to innovative devices.
Did anyone notice Palm will be right next to Access at the MWC show?
it will be a mutitouch Foleo that would connect to Pre wirelessly
Hmm. I actually wonder if they'd get up the balls to re-enter the market they kinda had "firsts" to. Hmm...
On that note, I vote "It's a webOS-powered Foleo called the Preoleo!"
OK, I thought Engadget writers were smarter than his. Nobody else thought to do a WHOIS lookup on the domain? Allow me to paste the important parts for you:
Registrant:
Mischief Media Inc.
20 Bay Street WaterPark Place 11 Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2N8
CA
Domain name: PALMMWC2009.COM
Administrative Contact:
MacPherson, Jaimie jmacpherson [anti-spam graphic] mischiefmedia.ca
20 Bay Street WaterPark Place 11 Floor
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2N8
CA
1.4164073203 Fax: NA
Registrar of Record: easyDNS Technologies, Inc.
Record last updated on 05-Jan-2009.
Record expires on 30-Dec-2009.
Record created on 30-Dec-2008.
So unless Mischief Media Inc. is some sort of subsidiary of Palm, which I doubt, this was nothing more than a troll. And you all fell for it. The reason the site went offline is probably because Palm got wind of it and threatened legal action if they didn't.
Err, you didn't look close enough: Mischief Media have run official Palm campaigns in the past
@Trumpton:
Well, you're right. I didn't look very close because I am a lazy ass. Thank you for making a fool of me. I do wonder, though, why you knew that.
And here's the proof: http://mischiefmedia.ca/Portfolio.html
Ithankyew.
I checked out the link and they actually seem like a pretty cool marketing company. I never heard of them before, but I like the name.
Isn't there a slight hiccup with that seeing as though the Palm Pre is advertised as a Sprint Exclusive. I don't think we will be seeing a GSM Pre, but maybe it will be another designed phone with a different name that runs the same WebOS but with a different styling to it.
Sprint has a US exclusive. Doesn't mean us AT&T and T-Mobile users over here can't import a European model for our own
i think they're going to announce that the Pre will be available for preorder online immediately after MWC.
Maybe they are presenting a GSM palmdroid... lol
They are dropping Multi-touch (Apple's patents)!!! it's confirmed!
Obviously, they'll be announcing the Palm Pre Nano. Apple's obviously no longer able to compete in this new economy anymore, so Palm will have to take up the slack.