Palm Pre available today!

After unveiling Palm Pre at CES in January, we wanted to give you the opportunity to get to know a few of the people behind the product. Over the past few months, we’ve introduced you to people who have helped to:

• turn Pre from concept to reality
• complement Pre with breakthrough accessories like the Touchstone inductive charger
• develop the webOS that powers Pre
• ensure that the Pre user interface was intuitive and engaging
• effectively convey the Pre story on palm.com
• convey the Pre message to everyone through break-the-mold advertising
• coordinate every facet of launching Pre.

Today, Palm’s first webOS-powered phone -- Palm Pre -- is available on the Sprint Now Network. We thought this would be a good occasion to give you the chance to “meet” the rest of the team at Palm. From all of us at Palm, we truly appreciate your enthusiasm -- and your patience -- since January. We couldn’t have gotten to today without you!

-- The Palm team

Comments

[Tree]

Where's the app catalog? Is there a way to see the apps before we buy the phone?

[Andrew]

Beautiful! A drove of us were in line at 5am this morning in Eden Prairie MN.

Best of luck Palm, this is a wonderful product, as as a die-hard Palm customer who's been with you since my first Palm Personal, I truly hope this restores your company to your rightful place in the industry that you, more or less, started!

(now hurry up and get me my SDK!)

[anchan]

I am definitely going to get one.
:)

[Linda Grist Cunningham]

Such a shame our local Sprint store didn't appear to be prepared. Lost a sale and a new contract simply because the wait was more than an hour -- and it wasn't because everyone was lined up to purchase a Pre. I want the Pre; I'll probably go back. But it certainly was disappointing.

[Paul C]

When will we hear about a UK launch? I'm dying to get my hands on a Pre, but we don't even have any idea when an announcement is forthcoming, let alone the device itself. :(

[Lee Sixta]

I have t-mobile. can i order one and set up on line with my C/C?

[Shameet]

Impressed. Picked mine up this morning.

This is my first smartphone device. For me, like others, it was between the Pre and iPhone. The QWERTY keyboard, slick design, availability through Sprint did it.

Please do not limit release of the SDK to the select few. The webOS platform is limitless. I look forward to the possibilities.

Cheers Palm.

[Ankit]

I simply love the phone. However, the keyboard has disappointed to no end. Can you please upgrade the hardware ASAP? I am sure you can come up with something lot better than the present keyboard.....!

[M. Boyd]

When will the pre be available for online purchase? I never have a good experience at the retail store in my area. I prefer to shop online.

[Anthony R. Smith]

Why on earth isn't Pre on Verizon???? Why would anyone in his right mind get a PDA that was on Spring or AT&T.
VERY stupid decision. I will get it in a HERARTBEAT if you put it on the Verizon Net work!!!

[Frank]

I tested the phone out and it was very nice. Plane on getting one at the end of the month to go with my iphone. I think that the palm pre will definitively be competition for the iphone. I love the design of the and the way it feels in your.

[Jakub]

Congratulations!

Please bring the GSM edition to Europe ASAP :))

And release the SDK even faster :D

[Haroon Rashid]

Today being a very important day in smart phone history as Palm Pre is available. Compliments to the whole management team with important names Ed. Colligan, Jon Rubinstein, Jeff Devine, Brodie Keast, Derick Mains, Gisela Bushey all have contributed for today. Palm Pre VIP Launch Event Benefitting IRaq & Afghanistan veterans of America June 3. Is there any one who knows if Afghanistan has any 3G network to support the Pre which Sprint has.

I'm from Pakistan just adjacent to Afghanistan which has just started with the CDMA and EVDO Rev A in major cities as an authentic service available on USB device. Pakistan being the first country in the SAARC trade union country launching 3G EVDO Rev A standard, with CDMA phone which Palm Pre is fully compliant and on the same frequency band which Sprint supports in the US. The 3G network will expand to the whole country shortly with recently principal cities supporting telephony, and EVDO Rev A.

Pakistan with population of 180 million plus has excellent human resource of developers with competency and their availablity makes Pakistan an important center for the Apps which will be on HTML. Our regulatory authority may consider providing access to Afghanistdan for the 3G network depending upon the reciprocity between the two Governments and the regulators.

Propose to help Palm for the establishment of the development centers to make Palm as a flagship product of the world. A large user
base will also be helpful. Haroon Rashid

[jadah]

Im am so excited about my new palm pre!

[Mike]

I cant wait to see the palm webso apps.

[mohody]

I went to my local Sprint store today and they were out of stock. To bad for me, but i guess this is good for Palm.

[Andrea]

I just wish that I did not have to pay extra monthly to get it, since I have the SERO plan with sprint.

[Ben]

Ok, I figured out how to delete an email without opening it. Not the best ui experience as I get a lot of messages I don't bother reading. Wish I could just press the backspace button on the keyboard. Despite my gripe here the fact that I have a true IMAP email client is something I've dreamed about for a long time.

My biggest gripe right now is the calendar. Coming from a palm 700p I lived by my calendar's ability to color code events. On the Pre I set up several calendars in google and assigned each one a color. It shows the colors in the weekly overview, but all color disappears in the monthly overview. If your not used to this it probably sounds like no big deal. To me its a huge leap backwards in trying to keep chaos organized.

Don't get me wrong, I love the phone. The multi-tasking and web capabilities are second to none. I mention the above because I feel they slow down my productivity from my previous palm phone.

Other then that I find myself constantly looking for the 4 way navigation buttons. Old habits die hard.

[Cynthia]

My stores in the Washington, Dc, MD, VA areas did not have them or was sold out. I went to like five Sprint stores and a Radio Shack, I am Blown.

[anfin]

Congatulations Palm!

Will it soon be time to share the fantastic Pre with the remaining 6.4 billion people in the world? As soon as the dust has settled, please, please give us some info about what you have in mind regarding Europe, Asia, Australia etc.

[capiland]

When I tried to type the key pads, I noticed the edges were too sharp. I use one hand to type instead of using two hands, but the sharp edges were keep hurting my hand.
I was going to buy Pre, but I will wait until this summer to see other brands' full touch phones.
I have Treo now and I wish them the best, but I(A CONSUMER) need something user friendly device.

[Wontswitch]

call me when it is available on verizon...

[Streaming]

Is there a schedule for Palm Pre with scandinavian keyboard?

Courious Finlander
I need thease letters äöå

[Stefan Constantinescu]

Can't wait to see how the Palm Pre does in Europe! We're anxiously waiting here across the pond.

[Pranav]

I cant wait to get my hands on the Pre, but I live in Zurich - when is it going to release here?