Palm Pre will be launched in time

According to Laptop, Palm isn't worried about Apple may drag Pre's feet.

Spokesperson Lynn Fox has this to say: 

We have no reason to think that our launch plans for the webOS and Palm Pre won’t come to full fruition. We have no plans to change the launch time.

We will hear more in a couple of weeks from Palm the earliest.

Who's carrying a working Palm Pre phone?

When Plam revealed the Palm Pre phone at CES, many people wondered when will the phone be released?

From a Facebook post, Palm's product manager Matt Crowley actually disclosed that he's carrying a working Palm Pre with him and he's not getting used to use the new phone just yet:

I just used Universal Search yesterday when my 10 year old son asked me how fast a giraffe can go. I typed in "how fast is a giraffe?" in Universal Search and I got the San Diego Zoo's Animal Bytes results. ~34.7MP/H (56 kilometers per hour). I didn't have to go to the browser and find google.com and then do a search. Just press Pre's center button and start typing. To be honest, I'm still getting used to it, since I am so used to going to the browser first to look for stuff on the Internet. I like the new alternative way. I can still go to the browser and go to google.com if I want, but I am liking Universal Search.

Here's the link: Facebook post

China Telecom to get Palm Pre?

Enter year of Bull, the dust over 3G network licenses finally settled down in China.

For 3G network carriers to attract and retain customers, a killer smart phone or phones is undoubtly very important. ATT clearly is gaining customers by exclusively launching the iPhone in the US.


After telecom reorganization, mobile carriers in China formally entered the "Three Kingdom" era.

The biggest carrier, China Mobile will pursue domestically brewed technology, Td-sCDMA, which will be built on top of it's GSM-EDGE network. It was rumored that China Mobile will get the iPhone. But it looks like a long shot now due to compatibility issue unless Apple willing to tailor made the iPhone for China Mobile.

The second largest carrier, China Unicom will pursue worldwide dominant technology, wCDMA, or UMTS which is similar to ATT network in the US. China Unicom may get the iPhone eventually.

The smallest mobile carrier will be China Telecom, the former state monopoly of telecommunication in China.

After being split in parts, the parent company was left without mobile license for many years. The government's intention was to give enough time to nurture strong enough competitors in China Mobile, China Unicom, as well as other smaller players.

Now, with the issuance of 3G mobile licenses, China Telecom finally got it's wish and even better with a CDMA2000 network.

CDMA2000 was developed by Qualcomm. It's the most mature network with easiest migration path to 3G, so called CDMA EV-DO network.

China Unicom is predicted to spend about one year to build the wCDMA network and possible another year to fine tune it.  China Mobile may take even longer time to make the TD-sCDMA network. 

However, the migration to EV-DO 3G network may give the smallest mobile carrier China Telecom  a huge head start. Some inside the company has indicated the 3G migration could complete as early as next month. With less than 28 million subscribers, China Telecom needs the new 3G network up and running to expand it's customer base.

However, there are not many smart phones made for the CDMA 3G network that come close to the functionality of the iPhone at current time. To play catch up with the much larger carriers, China Telecom desperately wants something similar to the iPhone to attract new customers and retain old customers. With the coming of Palm Pre, it could be perfectly fit into China Telecom's expanding strategy.

Palm Pre Best Buy

According to Bloomberg reports, Sprint Nextel in Talks With Best Buy Mobile to Sell Palm Pre 

Best Buy Mobile has become the biggest source of new subscribers for U.S. carriers, Score said. Sprint is striving to win back customers after losing at least 3 million last year, hurt by slumping consumer spending and complaints about its network. Palm also has lost users as they migrated away from older models such as the Centro and the Treo.

“I’m really excited that they’re back in the game,” Score said of Palm in an interview. “We’re working with Sprint on that, but no official announcement as of yet.”

full Bloomberg report

Palm Pre Specs

Detailed specs of palm pre is up at Gizmodo:

SPECIFICATIONS
• Linux-based Palm-built WebOS operating system and UI
• 3.1-inch, 320x480 capacitive LCD multitouch screen
• Vertical slider form factor with full QWERTY keyboard
• 8GB flash storage
• Multitouch gesture area and scrollball
• 3G EV-DO rev. A and wi-fi
• Bluetooth and GPS
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• 3-Megapixel camera
• LED flash
• TI OMAP CPU
• Micro USB connection with mass storage support
• Wireless induction charger

It also includes fairly detailed review and pictures

Gizmodo: Definitive Palm Pre Details and FAQ

Apple Tried to Rain the Preede

To give the Pre credit, Apple starts to rain the preede. Thinly veiled threat issued by chief executive officer Tim Cook:

We are watching the landscape. We like competition. As long as they don’t rip off our IP and if they do we’re going to go after anybody that does.

Did Cook pointing fingers at palm:

I don’t want to talk about any specific company. I’m just making a general statement that we think competition is good. It makes us all better. And we are ready to suit up and go against anyone. However, we will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we’ll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal. I don’t know that I can be clearer than that.

Is Apple fearful to be pre...yed?

Palm Pre empty strikes the mobile world

Palm has started the new year with a pre empty strike on the mobile world in CES

The parade for the Palm's New Reach started by the fake Steve Jobs, Daniel Lyons of course.

Remember life without your iPhone, Blackberry or Treo? From the Apple Newton to the newest Palm Pre (left), here's a look at the evolution of the personal digital assistant.

Read the whole story.