Palm Pre headed for Canada on Bell Mobility network

Judging by some of your Twitter and blog postings, Canadians have been eagerly anticipating details about Palm Pre's arrival in Canada. We are happy to confirm that Pre is scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2009. The phone will debut exclusively on Bell Mobility’s 3G high-speed mobile network.

You can sign up to be notified via email when Pre is available at www.palm.com/ca. You can also get all the latest Palm news by following palm_inc or by becoming a fan at www.facebook.com/palm.

Marc Tremblay, Managing Director, Palm Canada

Comments

[Colin]

Ugh.. Have you tried dealing with Bell customer support? Less than thrilling. I'd rather poke my eye out with a needle.

[Preeminent]

Great, another market to keep in the dark! :/

[geo]

That's great news. The Pre coming to Canada.

[Peter Hollo]

Dear Palm,
But... Canada is not Australia.

I leave the implications of this in your capable hands. Also, other than the iPhone, Australia isn't used to exclusive carriers. I include this for purely informational purposes.

[Thomas Hodder]

It is really too bad PALM would choose such a terrible company to go with. It means I will never have one, because Bell will never receive another cent of my money. Oh well, maybe I will be able to get an unlocked one and activate it with a company who even marginally cares about it's customers instead of just trying to rape them for money. If not, Android will be my buy. It is poised for incredible growth.

[Ana]

At this rate it sounds like about the same time the US will get it! When will it be out?

[pnastys]

alright canada i guess you can expect the pre to be all over the place come december 31, 2009

[Amroth]

I am really happy that things seem to be looking up for Palm as far as world-wide sales and availability are concerned.

I must admit, though, my concern is whether or not there will be any new WebOS or even WM Treo Pros at Verizon in the future. Many of us out here just can't leave the only carrier who provides adequate coverage for our location, even to stay with the devices we love.

[geo]

Excellent!!

[Anonymous]

wOOT! I'm totally excited! Although, it was pretty obvious that Pre was coming to Bell. The Treo Pro was exclusive to Bell for a while and Palm/Bell seem to have a good relationship. But this means I'll be able to walk into a Bell Store, here in Canada, and actually touch a Pre!! and buy one of course! Can't Wait!!!

[Brent]

Even though I'm a Bell customer now, I was hoping this would go to Rogers, as their data rates are a fraction of what Bell charges. If Bell doesn't come up with better plans, the Pre on Bell is going to be pretty much useless, since it is going to be too expensive to use, especially since it will rely on web based applications. Bell charges me $40 a month for 8 meg of data only, no voice. Contrast that with Rogers' iphone plan which gives you 1 gig for $30. They also have more forgiving flex-rate plans as well.

[Eric]

Thankyou!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is perfect timing and the perfect network for me!
My 3yr contract with Bell will be over approximately when the Pre comes out and Bell currently has the best plan for what I use.
One question, will Bell's Ulimited Mobile Web Browser plan for $10/month support the Pre because it supports some smart phones while others such as blackberry have to pay in the $50/month range.

[Anonymous]

Reply @ Brent's comment: Don't know which Canadian province you live in, but the iphone on Rogers is $199 on a 3 year contract for a minimum of $60 a month. None of Rogers' plans include an unlimited data plan and only a maximum of 500mb for one month.

Most Bell smart phones, however, are $45 per month for: 250 local min. unlimited nights/weekends, 500mb for emailing, web browsing and im'ing plus unlimited incoming calls.

Bell also has a $70/month plan that gives you unlimited data. And similar to Sprint, a $100 plan that gives you everything. Rogers has nothing like this for the iphone.

[BigRed]

Well, great news for Canada. If the thing is ever released.

I was excited about the Pre when it was first announced, but several months later and nothing. That makes me really wonder why. Are they having problems that are preventing them from releasing it?

The delays just make me wonder- a lot!!!

[HotDogKid]

I just won't buy a cell phone, can't justify paying any of these companies the ridiculous rates they charge. Don't buy in suckers!

[Andre Corbeil]

I'm guessing a Christmas release - late November/early December for it to be a gift idea.

I've been happy with Bell support - they screw up my bill regularly, but a phone call and it all gets fixed and back-dated. The trick is, when you call 611 to get "Emily", their automated helper machine, just keep saying "agent" until you get connected to a human.

If the Pre's "cloud" will sync with MobileMe and data plans aren't crazy money, I'm in.

I'm actually quite stunned that Bell is picking up a Palm product this early - their usual delay is years after the US release.

[Sushubh]

Palm has little to no presence in India. Why not bring unlocked Pre to India? We pay good money for terrible mobile devices. Pre would be awesome!

[An.Finn]

I'm surprised by how much you guys pay for data in North America. Over here in Finland we get unlimited(!) data starting at 384 kbit/sec for 10 € and 1 Mbit/sec for 20 €. 5 Mbit/sec is 35 € (per month). As Peter from 'down under' said, we're not used to exclusicve carriers here either and all phones except the iPhone can be bought without a contract. I guess this is why the iPhone hasn't got a big market share here (and also the reason why we have reasonable data rates - because there is free competition). Personally, in case the Pre (or 'Eos') will be exclusive in Europe, I will probably end up with a Nokia (which I really would like to avoid). 'Exclusive' is such a red cloth for most of us over here... ;-)

[Riz]

Having releases set up in the queue is even MORE incentive for developers to kick it into high gear for WebOs. The excitement keeps building. Can't wait for the launch!

[gKm]

Yucky carrier locks. I was very excited when I first heard about the Pre coming to Canada. Now im hoping to hear any news about GSM based versions. I like knowing that if I go to South Africa I can buy a sim card there and continue using my Pre not sure this will be possible with carrier locks.

[Craig]

I second the motion for an unlocked GSM version!!! I'm with Rogers (but I would never buy it through them as, yes, North American data pricing is atrocious)!

Also, I think most provincial privacy laws do not allow businesses to transfer others' personal information to US servers - ability to sync with Outlook contacts, etc. (without Exchange) not via the cloud is imperative espcially for business uses!
Perhaps a continuance of Palm's current desktop sync program?

[DEBRAH]

Bell mobility is the leading cell phone company in Canada so really,there is nothing to complain about.They also havv really good deals

[Khushwant Singh]

Plam Pre is an awesome product. When are you planning to launch pre in India?

[sohbet]

thanks

[Piet]

When will the Pre be available in South Africa?