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UK mobile operators say no to HP Pre 3
UK MOBILE OPERATORS apparently aren't interested in the HP Pre 3 smartphone, with none of them planning on selling it directly.
It seems that HP's first smartphone running its WebOS operating system is somewhat doomed before it has even been released in many channels. There is a distinct lack of interest from mobile operators and retailers for selling the Pre 3.
Orange told The INQUIRER that it won't be selling the Pre 3 in its stores or online but through indirect channels instead. O2 wasn't interested in the phone, telling us, "We have no plans to stock Pre 3 at this time".
Vodafone said, "We have no plans to offer it at present." And Three has confirmed that it will not be stocking the handset either. There's also no sign of the Pre 3 on The Carphone Warehouse web site but it has confirmed that it will sell the phone from September.
This doesn't bode well for what is a big launch for HP following its Touchpad tablet. Both the Touchpad and Pre 3 have wireless Touchstone technology that allows them to communicate with each other.
The Pre 3's predecessors, the Palm Pre and Pre 2 which were launched before HP bought smartphone maker Palm, did not do well either. The latter was launched without deals with any mobile networks but HP had been hoping to revive the smartphone's fortunes.
If you really want to get hold of the phone then all is not lost, however. Clove.co.uk has the phone in stock now for £360 SIM free and Expansys.com has stock expected in six days with a price of £394.
Play.com has reduced its price from £349 to £289, making it the cheapest, but it has a release date of 9 September. You can also opt to get the phone straight from HP for £299.
SIM free might not be the best option and it is possible to get the Pre 3 on a contract even though none of the mobile operators are selling it directly. Mobiles.co.uk is offering the handset on Orange and T-Mobile with contracts starting at £20 with no initial payment for the phone. µ
Tags: Hardware
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webOS is actually the most user-friendly phone OS (you actually put it into developer mode simply be entering a well-known password at the main prompt). It also doesn't have a slew of marketing developers around to put crudware on the phone. Naturally carriers don't like it because it is hard to f**k with and easy to unf**k.
Carriers want to lock down phones, perhaps understandably considering who gets to use them (kids.) People who pay for their unlocked phones are likely to be mainly software developers or IT people.
I don't think HP can buck the phone market, and their overly corporate approach to sales hardly helps. But it will be sad when the whole market is a choice between restrictive iOS and restrictive Android. Open phones are a gateway drug for future information scientists and engineers, and we really do not want to leave all of that to the Chinese and the Indians.
Shockingly poor specs, amateur engineering, untested components, shoddy assembly, horrible warranty and repairs (which the Pre needed more than anyone else), coupled with buggy, over-promised, unfinished and unsupported software.
Never mind, I see how most of these would appeal to HP's executive suite.
That will mean th elokes of Orange won't br taking a perfectly good phone then screwing it up completely with thir weird take on preconfigured Orange apps, Orange web favourites (that you can't delete) and Trial games (that are a: Lame and b: impossible to delete).
I've got one of their versions of the ZTE Blade which is actually quite a nice phone once the crud is removed.
Can you make it even wonkier?
Oh my. What an inglorious end to the Pre.
Oh my. What an inglorious end to the Pre.