Palm Pre gets a UK launch date

O2 HAS NAMED 16 October as the date when UK buyers will be able to purchase Palm's Pre smartphone, the first device to feature the company's new WebOS platform and tipped by many as the biggest rival for Apple's Iphone.

The carrier today confirmed that customers will be able to purchase the Pre directly from O2 stores, the Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and also from O2's online store starting from 16 October.

For consumers, the Pre will be free for those signing up to a 24-month contract with tariffs starting at £34.26, or an 18-month contract with a monthly tariff of £44.05 and above. On other tariffs, customers will have to pay £96.89 for the device itself.

The Pre's wire-free Touchstone Charging Dock will be sold separately for £44.11, O2 said.

Business customers can get the Pre with current O2 business tariffs as a monthly bolt on, or at no extra cost for tariffs of £30.91 and above on a 24-month or 36-month contract.

Earlier this month, Palm disclosed it will no longer develop handsets running on Windows Mobile, which have powered its devices aimed at business users for the last several years. Instead, it will focus exclusively on its own WebOS platform.

O2 described the Pre with WebOS as "a powerful business device", and highlighted its capabilities such as multitasking, a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, robust messaging, GPS, and 3G and Wi-Fi network support, and the ability to connect to Microsoft Exchange email servers for push email.

The Pre has generally met with good reviews in the US, where it has even been compared favourably with Apple's Iphone, which is also carried in the UK by O2.

However, reports indicate that the device may not be selling as well as Palm had hoped, following an early rush to buy the Pre when it initially became available.

Palm also this month announced a second WebOS device, the Pixi, which looks set to be a lower-cost handset than the Pre. It is expected to be available in the US on the Sprint network by the end of the year. µ