Palm confirms O2 for UK Pre launch

Palm's Pre has a new platform focused on user experience

The Palm Pre smartphone will be available in the UK on O2 before Christmas, the two companies have confirmed, but pricing and an exact date have not been disclosed.

Palm announced at a briefing today that it had chosen O2 parent Telefónica as its European launch partner for the Pre, the first smartphone to ship with Palm's all-new WebOS platform.

Dave Whalen, Palm's senior vice president of global sales, said that the company was very pleased with the Pre's reception since its launch in the US in June, and that the firm chose Telefónica in Europe because the carrier has a similar focus on the end-user experience.

O2's head of consumer marketing, Jonathan Earle, explained that the Pre would be available before Christmas, but that an exact date has not been set.

"We want to ensure everything is just right, and the run up to Christmas is a cracking time to launch an exciting device like this," he said.

Pricing has also not been decided, according to Earle, but will be " competitive with the marketplace, as we want this device to fly".

The move means that O2 has secured several of the most desirable smartphones on the market, including Apple's new iPhone 3GS and Samsung's Android-based Galaxy i7500.

"We want to be the home for smartphones and, with the Pre, we believe we have the best smartphone range in the marketplace," said Earle.

When asked how O2 differentiates between these models, Earle said that the Pre appeals to various market segments, but especially to users of social networks, thanks to its ability to aggregate them into one easily accessible place.

"The UK is a big market, and we want to attract as many customers to our network as possible, so choice is a good thing and it really comes down to personal taste," he explained.

Whalen hinted that Palm also sees a wider market for the Pre, with mobile applications perhaps driving take-up in the business market.

"We already have an app called Classic on the phone that lets you run old Palm OS applications, but moving forwards we will be creating our own application catalogue for the Pre," he said.

The new WebOS makes it possible to develop applications for the Pre based on web technologies such as JavaScript, CSS and XML, he added.

"A lot of people developing for the enterprise today have these skills, so a lot of enterprise applications can be ported across," Whalen said.