Palm is launching its Pre 2 handset in the UK starting on November 15th but the handset will not land on the shelves of any major wireless carrier in the UK. According to Pocket-Lint, a quick perusal of wireless carriers reveals that none of the four major wireless carriers in the UK have plans to carry the handset.
Orange UK: “We have no plans to stock it at the moment”
Three: “No, there are no plans to range the Palm Pre 2 at this time.”
Vodafone UK: “We don’t plan to feature the device in the UK range”.
O2 UK: “The Palm Pre Two will not be available on O2. We offer a range of the best handsets through our product portfolio and regularly review this to ensure it continues to meet the demands of our customers”, the company told Pocket-lint. “We’ve always offered our customers a choice of experiences when they come to buy a new phone and we were excited to add webOS and the Palm Pre to our range. We’re still fans of webOS – the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus are available from us today – but won’t be taking the Palm Pre Two”.
While the Pre 2 will be available unlocked for £399 from Palm, the lack of carrier support does not bode well for Palm and its Pre 2 handset. As we saw with the online-only Google Nexus One, customers like to go into a retail store and look at a phone before purchase. Admittedly, some hardcore fans will purchase the Pre 2 sight unseen, but most won’t. It is a bitter pill to swallow but Palm will miss out on a lot of potential sales because none of the wireless carriers will stock the Pre 2 handset.
[Via Pocket Lint]