Wireless Smart Phones
The new palm pre has been released. Backed by Sprint, the nations third largest wireless carrier, this smart phone has the potential to shake up the market. Both AT&T and Verizon are facing intensified competition in the wireless marketplace.
Coming in at a low basic cost of around two hundred bucks, the pre has wifi capabilities, a three megapixel flash and is generally comparable to the iphone and the blackberry. It is slightly more compact, but has a solid 8gb of non-expandable memory.
Palm Pre
The wifi ability is where the real edge comes in. This is unique to the palm pre and may give sprint an advantage over AT&T in the wireless carriers battle.
The palm pre is well suited for navigation, its touch screen can handle multiple browser windows which open intuitively to the touch. With over 400 million invested in the palm pre, sprint is betting heavily on this wireless market play. The carrier desperately needs to catch up with its competitors if they want to retain marketshare.
Despite the solid design, the pre has a major weakness that comes with being the new kid on the block. Applications for the pre smartphone are extremely limited. While this may change in time, for now it puts the gadget minded consumer with a fairly limited range of choices.
Other features: Docking charging system available, 5 hour battery life, bluetooth stereo, wireless connectivity, keypad locking when phone is in call position, amazon music store integration, and a removable battery.
Wireless Carriers
Whichever of the carriers takes front and center in the carrier wars is always open to contention. It is an important battle as smartphones come into wider usage. If you sell the phone, you have a subscriber to your service, and thats where the smart money is at. The palm pre reinvigorates Sprint which was fading in the race for victory. Whichever carrier service can get the most phones into circulation, is going to make the most money, its that simple. By setting the price in an affordable range and offering some new features, Sprint is at least proving it's a contender in the wireless carrier service competition.
