The wait is over! Bell has officially released Palm (NSDQ: PALM)’s savior, the Palm Pre, for all Canadians to enjoy… errr…. well, that is, if you happen to be in an area of Canada graced by Bell’s presence.
The low-down? The Pre will set you back $199.95 on a 3-year contract with Bell. A minimum $45 voice/data plan is required. If you’d rather buy the device outright, the Pre will run you $599.95 with a minimum 500MB data plan. No surprises here. Everything seems to be what we expected. So rare these days
To all of my fellow Canadians picking up their Pre today, I pass on all the best for this joyous day. To everyone else that wants a Pre but can’t get one because Bell has no presence in their area… I feel your pain… oh, I feel your pain.
Woo! Palm (NSDQ: PALM)’s webOS wonder will be available in Canada through Bell for $199.95 on a three-year contract as of tomorrow. The date has been long locked in, the ads are making the rounds, and retails units have even been cracked open a little early. Honestly, I’ve been eager to see the Palm Pre in the wild up north long before Sprint’s launch in June -let’s just hope stock holds up. Clearly Bell is pimping their exclusivity, but I wonder how long it’ll take before we see the Palm Pre on Telus (NYSE: TU)? For more info on Bell’s offer, hit up their product page. You may even be better off ordering online now and having them ship it directly to you, since retail stores will likely run out fairly quick.
Well, tomorrow’s the big day. The Palm Pre officially arrives in Canada on Bell. Honestly, I can’t wait… and for those that really, really, REALLY can’t wait, you may want to head over to Future Shop. That’s right, Canada’s favorite electronics retailer has already published the Palm Pre on their website as ‘available in-store’ for the outright price of $599.99. Groovy.
Oddly enough, when I punched in the Future Shop website and searched for the Pre, I actually got a page that listed the device for $999.99… with availability in-store. Me thinks this may be because I’m in an area not graced by a Bell presence, but who knows. When new products launch there’s always glitches and weird things going about online. This will shake itself out by tomorrow no doubt.
Future Shop has also listed the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Touchstone on their site for a cool $79.99. At the moment the site lists the Touchstone as ‘Out of Stock: Will ship when available’… I have a feeling the Touchstone and the Pre will be readily available starting tomorrow.
For all the details for your greedy little Palm-Pre-needing eyes, your best bet would be to call or head on down to a local Future Shop location.
With the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre launching on Bell in only… wow, 2 days time, it’s no surprise that we’re noticing a lot of Pre mentions in Canadian retail flyers and ads. TV spots are already running fast and furious, and although they remind some (and me) of a typical iPhone ad… At least Bell is busy doing their part promoting the heck out of this thing.
As you’ll notice above, FutureShop and Best Buy are also busy punching up the fact that they’ll have the Pre in-stock shortly. Of course, you’ll need to go in and sign-up for a 3-year plan with Bell to get the best price, but there’s nothing new there at all.
Should be veeeeeeeerrrry interesting to see how things go on Thursday. This will no doubt be the biggest ‘launch’ event in Canada since the launch of sliced bread… which debuted in Canada last year.
In the newest installment of the ‘Meet My Palm Pre‘ series/webisode/whatever you want to call it, the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre is on a journey to hook up with some ladies. Now, if you were hunting down some ladies that would be more than willing to chat and talk on camera, where would you head?
‘Let’s go show this phone to some ladies… according to google (NSDQ: GOOG) maps, there should be a nail salon right…huh… here.’
Ah, yes, the nail salon.
The more I see these things the more the main dude in it is actually growing on me. I actually had a little chuckle when he was still busy selling the Pre while getting some sort of facial treatment. If anyone knows the name of the dude doing these spots, please let me know.
Of course, I’m still highly skeptical that these episodes are actually ‘real’, but hey, if nothing less they’re starting to get a touch funny. Stay tuned for episode 3.
Note: If you missed the previous episode, check it out here.
Sometime in mid-September, Bell is now rumored to be launching the eco-friendly Samsung Reclaim. The Reclaim is made from corn-based bio-plastic materials, and when you’re done with it, the thing is 80% recyclable. Surely the Reclaim will be on the shopping-list of any environmentally conscious mobile junkie.
The Reclaim features a 2.4″ 320×240 display, a full QWERTY keyboard, 2MP camera with video, microSD expansion up to 32GB, 3.5mm headset jack, and much more.
No pricing or exact launch date details yet, all we know is the device is ‘coming soon. Look for the Samsung Reclaim to launch on Bell in blue and green. Stay tuned for more.
Bell is of course still busy as ever cranking out the PR for the upcoming Canadian version of the Palm Pre. In a new online campaign of sorts, the ‘Meet my Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre’ video takes the Pre to the streets in hopes of grabbing average Canadians’ attention and first impressions of the phone.
Of course, I’m a little suspicious as to whether all the folks involved here are real and not actors, but I’m always skeptical. If nothing else, I like the clip at the end where the one girl goes ‘She knows her s#@*!’. Nice.
Good grief. Not only are Palm cherry-picking Apple employees, but now they’re copying Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s commercials! Ok, ok, well, not exactly… Palm (NSDQ: PALM) isn’t, but Canadian carrier Bell is. Check out the new commercial for the Palm Pre above. Looks a little familiar don’t you think?
Bell, you can do better. Make the jump for a look at a recent iPhone commercial for a quick comparison. Ugh. C’mon Bell, you’ve got the Pre for cryin’ out loud! Am hoping you have another run of commercials up your sleeve! Read the full article »
In an effort to help educate Bell employees even further on the Pre, Bell has issued another internal document to front line employees. One page in particular that caught my eye is above. Actually, I think it’s quite brilliant. As you can see, the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre falls in the ‘Increasingly Smart’ area between the high utility BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Bold, and high entertainment of the iPhone 3G.
Bell offers an easy way for commit-o-phobes to get Internet access with no commitments. Easy, like college students. This Bell ad basically says that Bell’s Internet service works exactly like college students have sex – with no strings attached.
The ad is about as straightforward as it gets. There’s even a picture of some girl just about ready to jump some dude’s bones. If things go according to Bell’s (Internet) plan, he won’t even have to buy her breakfast.
