It's official, Palm just kicked out a press release saying that the UK, Ireland, and Germany will have access to the Palm Pre exclusively on O2 while Spain's Pre will be offered exclusively on Movistar -- so it's all Telefonica, all the time. Unfortunately, launch timing was only narrowed down to "in time for the holidays" which is just another way of repeating Palm's European-launch mantra of before the end of the year. Palm also doesn't provide any prices and chose not to list the radio frequencies for the HSDPA/UMTS with EDGE/GSM version of the Pre. See the 1,260 word press release posted after the break that says almost nothing.

Update: Seems as if O2 Germany has word that it'll be launching the GSM Pre in October.

Update 2: Hmm, seems as if O2 Germany has swapped out banners to show "Fall" availability. Make up your mind, won't you?

There it is, the first official press shot (see that HSDPA icon?) of the GSM version of the Palm Pre. The "more information" link isn't working at the moment but it's clear that Movistar has exclusive rights to the Pre in Spain. Of course, Movistar, like O2 in the UK, is owned by Telefonica which so far seems to have clinched exclusivity throughout Europe. We're still waiting for all this to get officially official sometime this week, if not today.

[Thanks, Enzo]

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.]

Now here's a way to make us show up for the previews. O2 has evidently figured out that getting moviegoers involved in the action is a good way to get more fundaments in seats, and starting next week, the first in-cinema interactive 3D game will be rolled out in 20 Vue theaters around the UK. The title, dubbed Asteroid Storm, will rely on two overhead cameras that recognize hand raises down below. In short, moviegoers simply move their hands to direct a damaged spaceship out of an asteroid belt, but there's no word on whether or not "everyone's a winner." Here's hoping not, chumps.

We heard earlier this morning that the GSM Pre was set for a UK launch, and now it sounds like things are coming together: The Guardian says the Palm's baby will launch on O2. That makes perfect sense, O2 owner Telefonica reportedly secured broad global rights to the Pre back in March. Of course, this is all yet to be official, but with actual GSM handsets floating around out there and an announcement expected next week, we're guessing we don't have too much longer to wait.

We heard way back at CES that a GSM Pre was in the works, but not until now have we heard who exactly in the world would be using it. According to confirmation received by T3, Palm is gearing up to disclose the whos, whats and wheres behind the UK launch next week, meaning that we've got seven days (give or take) to twiddle our thumbs until we know which carrier (O2 or Vodafone, most likely), how much and when it'll be available for purchase. We know it's agonizing, but at least you've a time frame to circle in your Trapper Keeper now, right?

What a difference 18 months makes, eh? The relative short line for today's iPhone 3G S launch at Apple's flagship Regent Street store in London could be attributed to any number of factors: the economy, the steep cost of upgrade for iPhone 3G owners, or the fact that Apple allowed for advanced iPhone 3G S orders with home delivery. Or maybe people just aren't willing to wait in line for a bump in speed, improved graphics, and video recording. We wouldn't call it apathy but the iPhone halo doesn't seem as shiny beneath a spotlight now shared with Android and the new Pre. Regardless, the iPhone 3G S is now on sale in the UK and a few more European countries with North America up next after a few degrees of the Earth's rotation.

Update: According to O2, sales for the 3G S have already surpassed numbers for the iPhone 3G during last year's launch. So it's possible that the pre-orders were in full effect here. However, you have to remember that Europe and O2 in the UK in particular had very serious problems meeting demand at the time of the iPhone 3G launch last year. So this statement likely says more about inventory management than it does the demand of the 3G S vs the 3G.

[images courtesy of Richard Lai and mrgeoffb]

Since its sneaky, silent unveiling at February's Mobile World Congress, the GSM version of the Pre has been a total no-show -- good for Sprint publicity-wise, probably, but bad for virtually every other carrier and potential customer in the world. If we had to guess, the silence can be attributed to heated negotiations between Palm and dozens of potential networks; the company knows it has a probable winner on its hands, and it has every reason to play hardball to get the best exclusivity deal that it possibly can. The Guardian is now reporting that O2 has fended off competing offers from Vodafone and Orange to nab the Pre in the UK, meaning that the carrier -- Britain's largest by subscriber count -- would be launching the device alongside the iPhone 3G, though rumors only have it pegged for pre-Christmas availability meaning it'd actually be doing with whatever new device Apple intends to bring to the table this summer. Whether it can hold its own against a renewed Cupertino onslaught in the holiday season remains to be seen, but in the spirit of competition and awesome smartphones, we certainly hope so.

Quite a bit has gone down in the cellular realm since Barcelona opened its beautiful doors to host Mobile World Congress 2009, but how could we ever forget this gem? Samsung's M7600 Beat DJ is about as close as we'll ever come to a real live Pilotfish Ondo, and after months of waiting, it's finally on sale across the pond. Available for purchase right now at O2 UK, the Bang & Olufsen-infused handset packs a 2.6-inch OLED panel, perfect for mixing, scratching and texting your mum when you stay out too late. It's all yours for between £0.00 and £146.80 ($233) depending on your choice of contract, and if any of you kind, gentle Britons feel like importing a few for the deprived Yanks over here, drop us a note in comments.

[Thanks, Todd]

Times are pretty tough for OQO fans -- the struggling company appears to be on the brink of collapse, the Model 2+ is unlikely to be produced, and now we're hearing that main board failures on Model 2s that have shipped are distressingly common. That's at least the word according to the OQOtalk forum, whose members are currently gathering data on the situation -- and the early trends sadly reveal that the 1.6GHz model is extremely prone to failure. Of course, it's not exactly the most scientific poll in the world, but you wouldn't expect such harsh results from users on a fansite unless something was up. Given OQO's current travails, we don't know if this will ever get resolved, but let's hope so.

[Via Gadget Mix]

We've seen it time and time again -- carriers using their power to strong-arm consumers into paying services that could very well be free. Over in Europe, the almighty EU is considering "binding guidelines" that could force wireless operators to allow VoIP services such as Skype to run over their cellular networks. It should be noted that all of this is still very preliminary at the moment, but if the Union can somehow force carriers to support these so-called "innovative services," we could see a very favorable (for consumers, anyway) domino effect. As it stands, each EU country has the ability to decide individually on how they deal with blocked internet services, but obviously an EU-wide mandate would seriously shake things up. Or cause unstoppable riots, one.

[Via Electronista]

Carriers and Palm have been absolutely silent on the matter, but let's be honest: there's very likely been one of the most heated, no-holds-barred wars over the past few months to score European exclusivity on the Pre since the Storm and the iPhone -- and with launches broadly expected by mid-year, time is running out to secure a deal. Spanish media is reporting that Telefonica has now locked up that deal, not just for Spain and the UK (where it operates as O2) but for Latin America as well under the Movistar brand. If true, that'd be a nice, big "screw you" to archrival Vodafone, which has the mighty Storm / Magic two-pack under its belt. Even more interesting, though, is the fact that most of Latin America operates 3G on the 850 and 1900MHz bands -- the very same used in the US and Canada -- which means that our assumptions that the Pre would be 2100-only may have been wrong all along. Awesomely wrong. We wouldn't get our hopes up that the Pre will be a walk in the park to unlock and use on AT&T or Rogers just yet, but it's a glimmer of hope that we'll gladly take.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

Our friend Mr. Blurrycam was right on the money: OpenPeak's OpenFrame 7-inch MID touchscreen is on its way to the UK care of O2, albeit with a rather odd name change. The Joggler, as it's now called, connects via WiFi or Ethernet and has no SIM card for mobile use. In addition to the standard lot of apps -- news, weather, sports, media player, etc. -- its calendar can send out SMS reminders to other phones. Interestingly, though not apparently available at launch, it'll be able to send up to 50 free text messages to any UK-based phone, as well as receive an undisclosed number of messages. It's on track for an April release for £149.99 ($220), or free if you decide to pick this up instead of a handset when upgrading your plan.