The wait for the Palm Pre in Canada continues. The latest is that MobileSyrup snagged an internal document showing that Bell employees have began their training on the Pre and will continue to train throughout the month.
Good news, that, but our understanding is that the hold up for Bell isn't training, it's inventory. Palm won't release to Bell until they're confident they're meeting demand with Sprint. How goes that? Well, recently in HowardForums, a user named Profets posted:
just came to post some news i heard from inside.. and that they're preparing for a public launch of the Pre on friday/saturday of July 31/Aug1. but a lot of the time they keep referring to August 1 as the official launch date. Or at least what they're preparing for unless some kind of delays occur
Sounds like another one of those friend-of-a-friend rumors, right? Maybe not. A few posts later user MacD posts:
My sources state a release date between July 29th and July 31st, which would make sense to me.
That brings some credibility to the rumor. MacD, for those who don't know, was the user who leaked all the Blackberry Storm release information and has a knack for being right about these things.
And yes, it does seem to contradict our earlier speculation of a September 1st release and it does seem to be coming awfully quickly. Then again, competing carrier Roger's has a data plan promo ($30/6GB) which ends on July 31st, perfect timing for Bell to impress those data hungry folk with the latest and greatest.
Just a reminder, you can still enter Bell's Palm Pre contest on this page.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in.
Comments
i am glad to see the pre entering other markets. i feel like this will really help launch application and OS development, making it a much better device in less time. awesome. if only PALM could meet inventory demands... c'mon!
YES!!!
(patiently awaits July 31)
What to you think--any chance the Pre might actually be for sale on the Sprint online store before it goes to other countries?
Very much looking forward to this coming to Canada. This will be my first jump into the smartphone world and the Pre is exactly what I'm looking for. I may hold out till around October-ish after some more WebOS updates and what not, but regardless in its current state it looks like such an impressive device.
I suppose my only worry at the moment is support for applications in Canada. For example, the Pandora app is useless here in the North, and I am curious if you can buy tickets using the Fandango app in Canada. Not that the lack of these 2 are any deal breakers, but I've always been curious how many cool apps created by the community/companies tend to be useless when they are used in the Canadian market.
Good to hear. I have been a diehard Blackberry user for years, and it looks as if the Pre might finally make me jump ship.
I work for a Bell dealer and there was a pre launch party for all dealer principles last night, which makes this look much more legit. Generally, when there is a launch party, the device comes out within two weeks.
Exciting!
Looking forward to this!
I hope you can use this internet plan (http://bell.ca/shopping/en_CA_ON.Mobile-Browser/MBUN.details) with the Palm like they allow for the WinMo HTC touch unlike these plans where they charge per MB and internet access is somehow completely different from email access http://bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpWls_FeaSvcLanding.page#1
^^^^
You cannot use the regular mobile browser option for the Palm Pre as far as I know. You would have to get one of the Windows/Palm Smartphone Bundles or the Unlimited Data option. These options start at $25 and go up to $50 depending on what you want.
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