Pre Exclusive To Sprint Till End Of 2009!!!!

[chefmo27]

I just read on Reuters that the Palm Pre will be exclusive to sprint till the end of 2009!!!! :clap:

[brisk]

they better release it soon....

[GolpherZX]

Could this be the hold up in getting the phone out to market? Perhaps the contract for exclusivity is being negotiated and was in negotiations, but it took too long to get done? Is it even done?

Pure speculation here, but I'm guessing Palm wanted to make a huge splash at CES - in which it did. They went ahead and went about their original plans, even though an exclusivity contract was not nailed down yet.

Not to turn this into an Android discussion, but in my mind the reason why Sprint has been so reluctant to release a phone with Android is because they knew that the Pre was on the way and wanted to make a splash with just that one phone.

All I have to say is that there seems to be a little more activity lately. Is it purely because of MWC?

[PerfectHybrid]

I dont know nothin about nothin except the fact that it is now mid-late feb of 2009 and unless the pre comes out really soon that exclusivity isn't going to mean much.

[touchandcentro]

The reason for the exclusivity through 2009 is because the release will be delayed until q4 2009. No concrete data, just very cynical and anxious. I want one, but if another, better product comes along first, I may not keep waiting.

[the.traveller]

Basically it means "oh we don't need to switch to sprint, it'll be on our network in a few months..."

There's something to be said about a 5 year exclusivity agreement between ATT & Apple over the iphone.

Then again....to have a GSM capable device all over the world and then not release it in the US on a GSM mistake could be what's driving Palm. They're looking out for number 1....this exclusivity is almost bad news...weird. It's like Palm saying to the other networks
"Let us just release it on Sprint, iron out the initial bugs then we'll bring the good version to you guys"

Sigh...well sign me up :D

[ndnguy85]

so from december to ..well december?

haha

i mean are they gonna announce a date or no?

[ImmaSlave4U]

i mean are they gonna announce a date or no?

A manager in my local Sprint Store told me, 'by July'. :indiff:

[cwfluke]

so from december to ..well december?

haha

i mean are they gonna announce a date or no?

Nope - and by not doing so or even talking about it really, they are making a big mistake in my opinion. Even if you aren't going to release it until June - say so to build the hype.

Anyone remember those Verizon commercials for the Storm - where they just showed the back of the phone upside down on the table - and then said "Coming soon". Then eventually changed the commercial a little and said at the end "Coming this date". I always thought those commercials (whilst I hate Verizon) to be VERY effective commercials for building the anticipation for the Storm.

Since its clearly not allowed to have a Sprint commercial without Mr. Hesse in it - perhaps have him holding the Pre, talking about it, but never showing it fully - then at the end say something like "And starting in June, it'll be the only phone you will ever need".

I don't know - call me crazy, but I think their missing the boat here a little.

[tbot]

In my memories sprint has been terrible at marketing and advertisement...i mean look at the instinct commercials BLAH and the new blackberry direct connect commercial is kinda eh as well. Hopefully that will change tho with the pre and we'll see something half way decent come out...soon.

[GolpherZX]

The instinct had commercials? Where those the most annoying ads about movie placement or something like that? How about something simple that just shows the phone and what it can do...

[brisk]

I dont know nothin about nothin except the fact that it is now mid-late feb of 2009 and unless the pre comes out really soon that exclusivity isn't going to mean much.

i second this statement.
if they don't release it soon........this "pre" that they hope to bring customers to sprint isn't going to do much.

[Psmolar]

I don't think thats long enough. Given the economy, the fact that sprint will advertise it for a few weeks. As long as the I-phone is exclusive this should be as well. But Palm is not dumb they know people will wait for this phone. We are going in to March now and thats only 9 months of it being exclusive. I will buy one cause I need to update my M-1. But I'd wait if I was with the other providers.