AT&T getting 'practice' Pre Pluses tomorrow?

It looks like AT&T will start taking delivery tomorrow of Pre Plus units that are being specifically designated as high-security, SKU-less "practice devices" that are only to be used off the sales floor for training purposes, though when training is complete, they can be moved to a live store display. That certainly lends weight to a launch happening sooner rather than later, counter to rumors earlier in the month that we might not see them on shelves until the peak of Summer. Of course, we don't know how long the training sessions are going to run -- our leak here gives no indication of that, nor of a retail release date -- but considering that we first saw this form factor back in January of '09, it's seriously in everyone's best interest to fast-track these. Our fingers are crossed.

[Thanks, Eric L.]

[cursive Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:04AM]

Wow verizon just dropped the price to $50 and the mobile hotspot to $0!!!!
Think this is in retaliation to at&t's launch in the next couple of weeks?

[BeeQAL Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:14AM]

How's about gettin 'practice' Pre Pluses to the rest of the world so that we can get a taste of that WebOS goodness not to mention so that we can support an excellent platform that doesn't deserve the mediocre attention that it's been getting so far?

What with Android firmly entrenched in this smartphone war, Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 series presumably being a success when it comes out and the upcoming iPhone update making sure the iPhone platform is firmly in the commanding position it's in, Palm really needs to do some moving and shaking like, SOON. Just my personal opinion of course.

[Johnny Rockets Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:32AM]

This is ridiculous.

I want Palm to succeed too, but for god's sake, ***ENOUGH*** with the 18 month old hardware!!!!!!!!!!!

Time to release a NEW PHONE PALM.

Even APPLE releases a new sku more frequently than Palm has.

NEW PHONES, NOW. BEFORE YOU GO BANKRUPT.

[Axtell Posted Apr 1st 2010 2:08AM]

It's obvious Palm doesn't have the resources to build phones any more, otherwise they wouldn't be peddling the same phone they've been showing for what, 18 months?

Why not sell/license webOS to a hardware manufacturer like HTC? They have the resources to build phones on a more reasonable cycle than Palm is showing they can. Build into the contract that Palm still controls the OS. What's happening now with Palm isn't sustainable in the least.

[majorhunadadun Posted Apr 1st 2010 7:10AM]

@Axtell Everyone has a damn theory on what needs to happen with Palm. You're hittin' on one of the top 5 I'd say. New hardware, Nokia buyout, licensing. It truly is the smoothest, most well put together OS. iphone pinch and zoom still the smoothest and most responsive though... I've been on Sprint with the pre since the beginning. Something needs to happen here...

[fernandez21 Posted Apr 1st 2010 2:41AM]

Sweet!!! I can't wait to replace my iPhone!

[piginabox1 Posted Apr 1st 2010 3:10AM]

PractiSe, surely?

[(Unverified) Posted Apr 1st 2010 4:40AM]

here is an video for gsm palm pre.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTYxMzg0MjY0.html

[XChrisX Posted Apr 1st 2010 6:20AM]

I would love to have one just as a spare phone to mess around with, that is if they're cheap enough unlocked.

[Sean76 Posted Apr 1st 2010 10:14AM]

To little to late! Unless they come out with a crazy new all touch device, Palm is over... I happen to like the idea of palm and web os! But there too late in bringing stuff to the masses! Right now alot, not all AT&T customers are waiting to see what Apple brings to the table with there 4th gen iPhone. So this is like small news. And with all the HTC, Andriod, and Windows 7 news that's been circulating, it seems Palm has been swept under the rug for now, and maybe forever!

[tmzt Posted Apr 1st 2010 12:16PM]

Completely useless without Temporary Palm Profiles

[iBold Posted Apr 1st 2010 1:24PM]

We just got our version at our store ... it feels solid ... but it's still a Pre and way too small of a keyboard ...

[Encheritto Posted Apr 3rd 2010 10:59AM]

Just finished playing with the at&t palm pre..... Im really liking it.