14 DAY TRIAL // Sunnyvale-based mobile phone maker Palm recently confirmed plans to have its Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus devices available for purchase in France before the end of April. The two handsets are set to make an appearance in the country on the airwaves of SFR, Paul Ghent, Palm's vice president of European sales, told Total Telecom.
Both Pre Plus and Pixi Plus are expected to be put on sale via the carrier's website as soon as April 27 and should come to SFR's stores on May 11, Ghent unveiled. The price tag of Palm Pre Plus has been set at €99 upon the signing of a contract agreement with the operator and after a €50 mail-in rebate. The Palm Pixi Plus will land with a price tag of €49.
On Wednesday, Palm announced plans to launch the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus in the U.K. on O2's airwaves, while confirming that O2 and Vodafone will deliver the phones to the market in Germany. It seems that Palm is aiming at increasing its market share across the old continent in a more aggressive manner, and that it plans making the handsets available in another European market too in the near future.
“It continues to be our desire to grow our share of the European market which is why we're going deeper into our existing territories by launching on more carriers, and going into new markets,” Ghent stated, according to the news site. Moreover, he said that, while Pre Plus and Pixi Plus were aimed at the higher and mid segments of the market, respectively, Palm was working on products that would expand their range.
“We don't have the scale of players like Samsung who can launch hundreds of phones every year, but we're aiming to have more than two,” Ghent reportedly said. Recently, Palm was rumored to be seeking for a buyer, as a result of poor sales and weak revenues during a series of quarters, but Ghent declined to comment on these speculations.