Treo 680 PalmOS smartphone finally available on Amazon.com

EXACTLY a month ago, Palm announced the long-awaited Treo 680 GSM smartphone running Palm OS and sporting EDGE data connections and "Google Maps". Now you can buy it from Amazon.com.

The phone was quietly listed on Friday at the popular Amazonian web retailer headquartered in Washington State, and is listed at a $413 price including free ground shipping within continental U.S. This is the unlocked retail version, without any associated mobile plans or carrier branding. Versions offered by mobile carriers - Cingular and T-Mobile probably- will retail for much less, with the current rumours being $199 with a 2-year contract, and some even saying that Cingular might provide the Treo 680 for free with the purchase of one of the higher priced service plans.

The elusive and long-awaited Treo 680, finally on Amazon.com

In any case, this unlocked Treo 680 with no associated carrier plan being quad-band and supporting EDGE data connections will surely be a welcome option for Treo 650 and 700p owners in America who travel abroad to other countries where GSM is the standard used by mobile networks, only having to insert a GSM SIM card.

This scribbler can't wait to get his hands on a Treo 680 for use down here in South America, even if it means placing the order on Amazon.com and having it shipped to a US-based forwarding mailbox. Amazon.com availability is one critical move that plenty of companies miss, and I'm happy to see Palm Inc. doing things right.µ

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