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Verizon slashes webOS prices, makes mobile hotspot free

Categories: Palm, Verizon, webOS
By: , IntoMobile
Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 11:05 AM

File this one under: “Shitty for Palm, but good for you.” Verizon Wireless has slashed the prices of its webOS devices and it is making the Mobile Hotspot feature free.

It’s not an April Fool’s joke, as you can now tether your Pre Plus for free. The Pre Plus has also received a price cut and it can be had for $50 with a new two-year contract. The Pixi can be snagged for $30 with a new two-year contract. This is good stuff because the Pre Plus is a mighty fine device that has a brilliant operating system and the hotspot ability has saved my behind more than once.

The goodness isn’t just for new customers either, as Verizon said in a statement, “Customers who purchase or upgrade to a Palm Pre and Palm Pixi will get the Mobile Hotspot for free. Existing customers who already have the service will find the charges on their next bill will be $0.00.”

Of course, this discounting doesn’t bode well for the struggling Palm because it looks like Verizon is just trying to get rid of its webOS inventory, even if it has to take a loss. During its last losing quarter, Palm said it shipped 960,000 handsets but only 408,000 units were actually bought by customers. An optimist could say that this will just clear the channels for Palm’s next, awesome webOS device, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

[Via Verizon]

About The Author

Marin Perez

Marin Perez has torture tested cell phones and smartphones for industry leaders like CNET and InformationWeek. He remembers when 4G was just a screen on PowerPoint presentations and is fascinated with the amount of innovation out there. Marin has spent a lot of time with BlackBerry and Android but he finally broke down a bought an iPhone to see what all the hype's about. He also has too many tablets.

  • anon

    I had a Palm Pre when it first came out and loved it, but hated the keyboard.

    I’ve seen many Palm Pre ads lately, from Verizon, and I always want to say that the phone is much much more attractive than the photo makes it seem.

  • web05hitz

    Sorry, but this is great news for Palm, not bad. They already took the hit to their shares and reputation when they announced the below-expected sales and extra inventory in the pipeline. This gets people to actually pick it up and increase the install base for webOS (which increases Palm’s app catalog revenue and the attractiveness of the platform to developers).