Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus approved for European vacation
By Thomas Ricker 
posted March 30th 2010 6:03AM
posted March 30th 2010 6:03AM
posted March 30th 2010 6:03AM
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Palm please do not screw this up! I think your devices are slick as hell. Advertise them God dammit!!!
@Mike Vick And come back to Asia! We still have Palm user groups that aren't dead here.
@Mike Vick Agreed. I have a Nexus One right now, my wife has a Palm Pre and part of me wants to swap phones.
@Mike Vick
i'm really sorry to say this, but Palm in Europe doing awfully. People have almost no clue who Palm is and what webOS can do.
And unfortunately, Palm's decisions regarding the european markets are horrible. I bought a legally unlocked GSM Pre from O2 Germany and i use in Romania. It works for most things BUT the App Catalogue is not available in my country. Not even for downloading free apps. And this has been going on in many countries in Europe like Switzerland, Italy, Finland, Sweden, etc
So, what is the point of spending 400 Euros on something that cant be improved by apps... Also, there are location restrictions that dont make any sense: for example, Yahoo messenger option is not present under Messaging app on our European 1.4 update, but is available with 1.4 US edition. WTF?
@silentio I know! Pre's aren't even sold in Hong Kong, it's silly really, Palm needs some investment and marketing power.
Portugal has no Pixi or Pre plus. I wait for over a year now...
@Mike Vick
Let's hope they don't make yet another bad move and release it when the next iPhone is coming...
@BogdanGC
It was reported on precentral.net that the app store will be going international on April 1st. So you should see it soon!
@fernandez21
April 1st? Not really a date that gives me confidence, but i still have trust in Palm to open up shop for us too.
@Mike Vick It's actually tomorrow, March 31st.
@Palm
Bring them to AUS palm
@Mike Vick
Might help if i could actually buy it in the UK without signing up to contract. Just sell the damn thing unlocked already.
The Pixi on payg at around £150 would sell like hotcakes and you can make money from apps. These people seem a little dim tbh.
Still no tmobile US love
Europe doesn't care...
@Almo Imagine, if the americans that are the biggest consumers in the world (come on, they even carry 2 phones on their belts... nice fashion) did not buy these devices... why should we even take a look at them.
sorry palm, with all the engadget help you are not going to stop the inevitable.
@Mr w00t
Agreed. But forget the Americans consumerism, closer to home, the Pre itself didn't sell well at all across all retail outlets. Let alone a meaningless "Pre Plus" revision. It's DoA.
@Almo Your name is Europe?
@silvestre
With those sexy sunglasses? Sure.
@Almo With this last comment you just won the Mr w00t trophy.
Maybe that guy should pay a visit to the internet happy box:
http://c0389161.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspacecloud.com/dyn/str_strip/291545.full.gif
@Almo
Europeans would care if they actually knew it existed. Palm needs to sell it unlocked in the European market and advertise it on their own because the European audience really is open to change from the usual Apple/Nokia/Motorola/Sony show.
IMHO, Palm isn't just dead yet; but after a few more exclusivity contracts with carriers they will have put the final nail in the coffin.
@sbutcher
Heck, they need to sell it unlocked everywhere, not just Europe. I would've bought one a year ago.
@sbutcher
"Europeans would care if they actually knew it existed"
Why? Not to put too finer point on the matter but Europe is awash with cellular telephones. What makes the Pre Plus or Pixi Plus stand out from everything else? I tend to agree with Mr woot that if the US didn't buy the Pre when it was the new hotness then I fail to see what has changed enough to drive sales in Europe now.
Personally, I tend to find the Pre as a very good idea that was delivered with a staggering level of ineptitude. Unfortunately for Palm, I think they have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and will pay the price for that.
That photo makes this post 1000% more awesome.
@AckbarsFist
I love the Griswolds!
The Pre has been out in the UK over a year and I saw my first one 'in the wild' yesterday. And I live in central London.
Seems a shame that everyone has iphones and don't even look to see what else is available.
@lookseehear
I don't understand why Palm decided to release the Pre on O2 which was the exclusive carrier of the iPhone at the time. Terrible decision, which cost them any chance of selling over here.
@franchise
You're completely right. In my opinion you can't restrict yourself you one carrier unless there is large demand for it.
It just didn't have the marketing to make many people jump ship from other networks.
@lookseehear it hasn't been a year yet. The phone wasn't released until summer 09.
@lookseehear
"Seems a shame that everyone has iphones and don't even look to see what else is available."
How do you know that they didn't? I realise that there is an opinion around here that people rush out and buy Apple's products without considering other devices but there is a fundamental problem with that - it is utter nonsense. Everyone is aware that there are other types of mobile telephone available so everyone who bought an iPhone has considered another type of cellular telephone, particularly given the costs of the device. Why they choose to go with the iPhone rather than something else is something that only they can answer but make no bones about it, other devices will have been considered. Hey, it may be that the iPhone was bought because "it's cool" but that simply means that other phones were deemed to be uncool.
@Kelmon
Hey hold up man! I wasn't going on an Apple bash. I don't like Apple but that isn't what this is about.
Saying 'Everyone' was definitely an overstatement, but in my experience (people I work with, friends etc) a lot of people have iPhones and have never heard of the Pre. I was talking to a friend the other day about Android and he thought Android was 'the Droid' as he'd been to the US and didn't realise that it available in the UK and was an OS not a phone!
Maybe this is a marketing problem, but I imagine it's also because quite a lot of people don't look at what else is available. Maybe it's just not that important to them *shrug*.
I think really I just like the phone market to be as competitive as possible as that benefits the consumer the most.
@lookseehear
"Maybe this is a marketing problem"
I'm sure it is a factor. Another factor is the sheer volume of different handsets available and how much you expect customers to research each one, which is clearly damned near impossible. It is entirely possible that customers aren't aware of the Pre because it is just another handset. If you want a new mobile telephone, just how much research are we expecting people to do? The iPhone clearly does well because it is a big name that is doing well and in this respect the other handsets have a problem, not least because almost none of them are a "brand name". I rather think that the Pre could have been a "brand name" but Palm seems to have set fire to their business.
@lookseehear
Look at the Desire, its going to be on every carrier going, even ones that dont normally do smartphones and its cheap. In 6 months, you wont be able to move without seeing the HTC device.
Palm- look and learn.
Well, there's still a problem with languages.
I would have bought a GSM Pre instead of a Nexus One if it had any Hebrew support.
I'm sure you can invade Palm HQ and build a settlement on top to satisfy your needs, no?
@Almo
No can do, unfortunately as the current priority is to invade Cupertino.
@Gilad and Almo
I'm still deciding how I feel about this thread . . .
Can't we all just get along? Are we all not sons and daughters of Abraham?
@Smart People Play Tuba
Hmm, I think my mum might have some questions to answer if that is the case and dad is going to be plenty pissed.
@Kelmon
"Literal Net" strikes again!
Still not interested.
Android FTW!
@ewlung
. . . and yet, you're interested enough to read this post, AND to comment on it, telling us you're not interested.
-1 for contradicting yourself
@Smart People Play Tuba : No, I did not read the article :) You wrong!
Still Android FTW!!
@ewlung
. . . which makes your comments even MORE irrelevant. Great work.
awesome photo err post!
"Look, kids, Big Ben & Houses of Parliament"
Repeat for a long time...
The only good that come come out of this is if other companies learn that it is stupid not to try and sell a product to everyone that want to give you money for it.
The world will be an even better place if another company can fail because they rip off Europeans with WAY higher prices than the U.S.ians pay ( don't give me the sales tax B.S. - V.A.T. is ~19% not 50% ).
Jon just sell the damn thing unlocked. I'll buy one. So, make it fast, iphone 4 (HD) is over the corner.
Palm, maybe can you think another name for your device, it sounds "Prepuce" for any French speaking dude in Europe or America!
@niclet
Brilliant; that never occurred to me! I have some friends in the south of France who would want a Palm Pre Plus just because that would satisfy their sense of humour and their dirty minds, so maybe it's in Palm's advantage? :)
I think the word exists in English too, BTW, but it works better with a French accent!
Rusty Griswold: [watching the romantic couple make out at the table] 'Dad he's grabbing her tits right there at the table!'
Clark Griswold: Just eat your breakfast, Russ.
Rusty Griswold: [Rusty still watching the couple] '... Dad, I think he's gonna pork her.'
Clark Griswold: 'He's not gonna pork her, Russ.'
Rusty Griswold: 'I think he's gonna.'
Clark Griswold: 'He may pork her, finish your breakfast.'
Why do carriers need to get on board?