Palm Pre in cahoots with Dutch provider Hi?

The GSM version of Palm's Pre looks all set for a UK announcement next week on O2. Now we get this, a Pre spotted on the support site for Dutch carrier Hi in The Netherlands. Fine, but what you may not know is that O2 and Hi (part of KPN) are also deeply intertwined with Telefonica -- O2 being owned by Telefonica and KPN being an "integrated carrier" with a long history of Telefonica courtship rumors. So, putting two and two together might equal a September launch if that previous Telefonica rumor was true.

[Via Tweakers, thanks Harm H.]

[Marijn @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:19AM]

Except the iPhone and iPhone 3G are also shown there, neither of which are available on hi.

[M. @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:24AM]

Don't shoot the messenger. There are some things that need to be highlighted here:

first of all the iPhone has always been a GSM phone so it's clear why Hi has those pictures there, if my iPhone has no simlock I could use a Hi sim but the Pre is NOT GSM at this moment so why shoukd they have a picture of it on their site?

I believe the Pre is coming sooner to Holland than you might think.

[Chasethebase @ Jul 3rd 2009 6:08AM]

Oh hai, I herd u liek Palm Pre's.

[M. @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:19AM]

Say it is true Thomas, the best network in the Netherlands + Pre = WIN!

God I hate T-Mobile.

[Malweran @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:35AM]

=( Hi is the suckiest provider i've seen with their lame coverage. T-mobile pl0x.

[M. @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:41AM]

Have never had coverage loss or problems with KPN, but hi uses that network, how can it suck?

Either way a simfree Pre is what I'll be eyeballing anyway.

[PLJNS @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:52AM]

Hi and KPN suck. T-Mobile might be the second largest provider in The Netherlands, but I don't like T-Mobile either. I was hoping the Pre would come to Vodafone or without a contract with any provider. But it seems I will have to find my Pre somewhere else...

[bombastinator @ Jul 3rd 2009 12:26PM]

I don't know how tmobile is in europe but in the US it' great. they have cheaper plans than theother carriers and I've had less trouble with billing than with either sprint or verizon. I've never had any trouble with coverage either but i spend almost all of my time in town so it's not a major issue for me. Their phones suck though. I'm interested in this hoping I can get a Europenan Pre, unlock it and us it on t-moblie in the US

[Wwhat @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:39PM]

Hi = KPN = soulless bastards, even more soulless than usual I mean.

[Wwhat @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:44PM]

T-mobile is the former german state phone company that the government made a public company while they changed the EU to go more capitalistic, so it started in europe and was in the netherlands etcetera too before it was big enough to get a foothold in the US, generally companies are a bit scared going to the US and prepare well, it's considered shark-invested waters where you might be eaten alive.

[be fearless @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:19AM]

i dont think europeans would want the pre anyway... there is no front facing camera, just look at how the omnia outsold the iphone in europe for 3 months straight and how in the dutch market htcs outsell iphones 3 to 1

i only say iphone because its the only high end phone over there with no front facing camera...not because im a fanboy :)

[Malweran @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:40AM]

Seriously, I've had 3 different phones with frontfacing cameras and I've used it ONCE. No one I've ever talked to uses that..

[PLJNS @ Jul 3rd 2009 2:42PM]

Seriously, how many people do you know that have EVER used there frontfacing camera? I have one, and have never ever ever used it. In Europe very very few people use it, because...why would you? The reason more HTC phones are sold here, is because, well there are more HTC phones... And you can get almost every HTC phone without a simlock. For the iPhone you'll have to switch carrier and get a "special subscription" with T-Mobile (atleast in the Netherlands) that includes a data plan and visual voicemail. And well, most people simply just don't care about a data plan and visual voicemail, they just want to be able to send atleast a 1000 sms text messages a month, and well, that just sucks on a iPhone...

[Wwhat @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:47PM]

Yeah nobody uses the frontfacing camera, not in europe either, maybe in korea? Or maybe in north korea because you aren't allowed to make pictures of anything but your nose? Or maybe in nepal, or russia, no idea where but not the US nor EU.

[Nils @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:24AM]

I just wish I could buy the damn thing without having to sign my life away to a carrier.

That's how it worked here in Finland until the iPhone arrived. Just give us the damn phone and stop shoving a carrier we don't want down our throats.

xoxo,

Finland

[Winters @ Jul 3rd 2009 6:24AM]

Hear hear!

[mass murderer @ Jul 3rd 2009 7:12AM]

I third that. iHope that the iPhone will be the first and only one to be tied in a carrier here in Finland. However the pre will get here prolly in 2100, so i hope that other countries that get it first will have it unlocked also.

[Buis @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:34AM]

Best comment ever.
Would also influence the featureset of phones in a positive way. Untill that day, tinker away on an openmoko.

[be fearless @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:47AM]

so what will the keyboard be then? QWERTY, AZERTY, or QWERTZ?

[M. @ Jul 3rd 2009 5:49AM]

we use QWERTY over here

[Swede @ Jul 3rd 2009 8:13AM]

Except for France who use AZERTY

[Wwhat @ Jul 3rd 2009 3:51PM]

I think germany has some keys exchanged too, I remember trying a german game once and the z wasn't where you expect it, in the netherlands they use mostly 'normal' keyboards though.

[Halo @ Jul 3rd 2009 6:20AM]

Who wants a plasticky phone?

[Buis @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:36AM]

Me! Me! Me!

I'm buying it because I want Palm to survive long enough to make a better built WebOS phone.

[Excelsium @ Jul 3rd 2009 6:38AM]

Hmm, will O2 charge double the price like they did with the iPhone 3GS?

[wrabbit @ Jul 3rd 2009 7:19AM]

Even the carriers there are hi, crazy europeans.

[morgan @ Jul 3rd 2009 8:20AM]

a dutch/belgian online retailer is also listing the pre as coming soon....
http://www.pdashop.be/product/71896/palm-pre.html

[JS @ Jul 3rd 2009 8:40AM]

"Welkom bij de Society"? Sounds too much like "Welcome to the social".

I suppose the Zune has things that are worth copying. This slogan isn't one of them.

[dys @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:29AM]

Ah, but Hi used "Welcome to the Hi society" way before Microsoft invented the Zune.

[ahha @ Jul 3rd 2009 10:12AM]

ZUNE RIPOFF
MICROSOFT RULEZZZ!!!





.

[zamboni @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:51AM]

Yawn.

Is Palm still making these things? I thought the market had spoken and the numbers put it in the "failure" column.

In a post-iPhone 3GS / OS 3.0 world this thing looks antiquated.

[Michael @ Jul 3rd 2009 9:55AM]

Palm shows the Pre on it´s German website since 6 months as "coming soon"....

[Trent @ Jul 3rd 2009 10:51AM]

Palm Pre available for UK preorder from Handtec. I hope this means that it'll be out sooner than September. I can't wait that long.

[yes @ Jul 3rd 2009 10:02AM]

Hi, Welkom bij de Society.






.

[bombastinator @ Jul 3rd 2009 12:59PM]

does anyone know if it is triband or not?