14 DAY TRIAL // According to the latest news on the Web, the highly expected Palm Pre mobile phone will stay with Sprint Nextel at least until the end of 2009. It seems that a person “familiar with the matter” has told CNBC about this, and, if it proves true, it would mean that all of you who hoped to see the device on other mobile phone operators this year will have to wait a little longer.
As many of you already know, Palm first unveiled the new Pre handset in early 2009, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and also announced back then that the device would be launched exclusively on Sprint. At the time being, no exact launch date has been unveiled, although rumors around the Internet placed the release day either at the end of the first quarter of the year or before the beginning of June.
According to CNBC, the source didn't say anything about any exclusivity rights past the end of this year. At the same time, we should also note that neither Sprint nor Palm have commented on the exclusivity period, although word on the street has it that it will last only for about three months or so.
Palm's Pre made quite a bit of fuzz at CES 2009, and many see it as a potential strong competitor against Apple's iPhone. The fact that it is one of the most expected mobile phones to be launched this year would explain Sprints efforts to obtain a longer exclusivity period for the device, especially given the latest financial results the company announced for last year.
On the other hand, Palm is also expected to have a lot to gain as soon as Pre is launched, given the fact that it has lost a lot of market share lately in front of Apple with its iPhone and Research In Motion with its BlackBerry. For what it's worth, the fact that Sprint is an exclusive provider of Pre has been rather disappointing for some analysts, mainly due to the fact that the carrier has lost a lot of users lately.