No world on the iPhone
While
many think that Verizon will start flogging the iPhone at some time in the
future, the telco has confirmed that from early next year it will start
selling the Jesus phone's rival the Palm Pre in the meantime.
The wireless
operator has confirmed it will be getting the Palm Pre early next year.
Chief operating officer, Denny Strigl, spilled the beans on the impending
smartphone availability during a conference call with analysts and investors
discussing the company's second-quarter earnings on Monday.
The Palm Pre,
which was highly anticipated for several months, is currently only available
on Sprint Nextel's network. Earlier reports indicated there might be a longer
wait for a Verizon Palm Pre. This is a bit of a surprise because Sprint had
an exclusivity deal with Palm which was supposed to last more than six
months. In June, Sprint Nextel's CEO Dan Hesse said that Verizon needed to
check its facts. Both Palm and Sprint have agreed not to discuss the length
of the exclusivity deal, but he said that it was not six months."
If
Verizon does in fact offer the phone in early 2010, that makes the deal
technically longer than six months, but not by much. Verizon is in desperate
need of some hot new phones on its network. Even though Verizon Wireless has
always gotten high marks for its reliable wireless network, it has often
been seen as a laggard in terms of getting the hottest new cell phones.
AT&T has the exclusive deal with the iPhone. The first and second
Android devices are being sold by T-Mobile USA. And Sprint Nextel was the
first out of the gate with the Palm Pre. Verizon Wireless has an exclusive
deal to carry the BlackBerry Storm, but many loyal BlackBerry users have
complained about the touch screen.
Research In Motion is readying a new
version of the phone for later this year. Verizon wants a nice phone to
add to its list. Rumours have been flying that Apple might be readying an
iPhone for Verizon. And many loyal Verizon subscribers, who don't want to
leave the carrier, but really want the iPhone. The Palm Pre might just sate
them. Certainly I would be happy with it.