O2 plays down Palm Pre carrier rumours

O2 could be on track to carry the Palm Pre in the UK

O2 has denied rumours that it is to become the exclusive carrier for the much-hyped Palm Pre smartphone when it launches in the UK later this year.

A report in The Guardian on Sunday claimed that O2 had sealed the deal with Palm, which has already signed up Sprint in the US where the Pre will be released in limited numbers next month.

However, an O2 spokesperson said today: "We do not comment on rumour and speculation, and have made no announcement on this particular handset."

If the rumour is confirmed, it will be good timing for O2. Although the company is currently the exclusive provider for the iPhone, Apple is expected to open up the handset to other operators in the UK.

The Palm Pre picked up some impressive feedback at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The device features Wi-Fi and GPS support, a 3.1in touch-screen, a slide-out Qwerty keypad, 8GB of storage and a 3-megapixel camera.

The device will be the first based on Palm's new WebOS platform, and features a removable battery, unlike the iPhone.

Smartphones are one of the few areas of the technology industry that appear to be relatively unaffected by the recession. Worldwide sales surpassed 36.4 million units during the first quarter of 2009, a 12.7 per cent increase on the same period last year, according to Gartner figures released last week.

However, mobile phone sales in general slumped by 8.6 per cent year on year.