Canadian mobile aficionados have no doubt been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre. It has long been known that the webOS-powered device will arrive on Bell, but the exact launch date has been up in the air for some time now. Recently, an internal memo leaked out that noted Bell staff training dates for the Pre, a sure sign that the device would be launching sooner than later… but if a snippet from a document leaked by MobileSyrup is valid, it looks like Bell will be the exclusive carrier for at least the first 6-months (we already knew that Bell was going to be the exclusive carrier… the timeframe is the news here).
The leaked document contains information on ‘The Bell Strategy’, and touches on the exclusivity deal:
The Palm Pre will expand and strengthen Bell’s smartphone category and will break new ground in the fiercely competitive smartphone market. Bell will be the second carrier worldwide (after Sprint (NYSE: S)) to sell the Palm Pre, with exclusivity for 6 months. Bell anticipates the Canadian market will strongly embrace this product with strong interest, which will boost overall smartphone sales.
Very cool, but if you’re a Canadian that happens to live in an area not served by Bell, you’re still going to be SOL. I happen to live in such an area… Color me unimpressed! Looks like I may have to wait-out the rumored 6-month exclusivity deal in order to nab the Pre on another carrier.
You may recall a leaked document via our friends at MobileSyrup, which showed training dates and locations for Bell employees to learn all about the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre. This was awesome news, as it clearly meant the Pre would be making an appearance on the Canadian carrier sooner than later, right? Let’s hope so…
Latest rumor and hub-bub around the HowardForums seem to put the Pre up for a late July early August launch on Bell. Awesome. I’ve read everything from a July 29/July 31 launch, through a July 31/August 1 launch. The one thing that seems to be consistent, is the launch should take place at the end of this month, or early August. You can read more of the discussion over at HowardForums.
By the way, if you haven’t already… hit up Bell’s Palm Pre contest page. Might as well enter… That is, if you’re Canadian.
If there was any doubt whether the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre was coming to the great white north via Bell, doubt no more. An internal document received by my good friends over at MobileSyrup clearly (ok, maybe not so clearly… Mr. Blurrycam makes an appearance again) shows that Bell employees have already begun training via an internal ‘What is Pre?’ course. Training will take place in Calgary today, then Vancouver on the 21st, Toronto on the 23, and Montreal on the 27th. Of course, the training locations have been blocked out to prevent any unnecessary and unwanted onlookers/gawkers.
Very cool news for sure… Palm Pre’s are in the country and Bell staffers are being trained. Shouldn’t be long now! No details yet on pricing or launch date, but expect more soon.
One more quick tidbit of Canadian mobile news coming your way via MobileSyrup yet again. The Samsung ‘Link’ is now tapped to be arriving on Bell near the end of this month (July 30th, a little later than expected!). The Samsung Link will be a Bell exclusive, and will come with a full QWERTY keyboard, 2.2″ LCD display, 1.3MP camera with a microSD card slot for expansion to 16GB. Bluetooth, IM, e-mail and all of the standard text messaging goodness will be built-in. Also, the first 10,000 customers will receive a free decal from Decal Girl (a promo Bell has ran before). Kinda cool.
Look for the Bell Samsung ‘Link’ to arrive at $19.95 on the 3-year contract, $69.95 on the 2-year, $169.95 on the 1-year and $219.95 outright.
More to come on the Bell Samsung ‘Link’ before the end of the month!
Looks like Mr. Blurrycam was hard at work on this one. MobileSyrup has reported that the LG ‘Bliss’ will become available August 7th on Bell. Details on the device are just about as blurry as the image seen here. Looks to be a full QWERTY touchscreen with 2MP camera (with video capabilities and 2x zoom). A microSD card slot will be on board for up to 16GB in extra space as well. Look for Bluetooth, speakerphone and all of the standard apps to be on-board as well. I’m sure we’ll hear more on this one as launch draws near.
Pricing for the LG ‘Bliss’ at Bell is said to hit the following price points:
That’s right, earlier this afternoon, and ahead of the rumors, Bell launched the BlackBerry Tour 9630 ahead of rival Canadian CDMA carrier Telus (NYSE: TU). Last I checked, the Bell BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) Tour 9630 is only available via the Bell website, but expect the device to start showing up in stores real soon (perhaps the July 17th launch rumor will reflect in-store availability?). In fact, Tours for all Bell locations have been ordered and are on the way.
So what are the purchase options? Bell is offering a 3-year contract for $249.95, a 2-year for $549.95, a 1-year for $649.95… or you can purchase it outright for $699.95 (as expected).
I’m not sure if this is sad or funny. You tell me.
We’ve known for awhile now that Bell will be the exclusive carrier of the Palm Pre in Canada. Earlier today, my bud John over at MobileSyrup pointed out to me that Bell has launched a new contest involving a Pre. The contest will give away a Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre to one lucky entrant. This isn’t the sad/funny thing, in fact, the contest is cool overall… but here’s the funny part (ok, I’ve decided it is funny, not sad). If you look at the entry rules PDF (link at the bottom of the page here), you’ll notice, what’s that? No, that’s not the Pre, that’s a Palm Treo Pro at the top of that document! Haha, that’s right, at the top of an official Bell document that details the rules of the contest, no one happened to notice that a Palm Treo Pro is gracing the header instead of the actual prize, the Palm Pre.
Hilarious?
Also worth noting in said contest rules is the ‘approximate retail value’ of the Pre. Within the rules, Bell details the value to be $650 CDN. Not surprising. So, when the device does go live on Bell, we can expect the device to go for $649.95 outright if you’d rather not be locked down to a contract.
That’s it for now, thought this was mildly amusing. For more information or to sign up, you can check out the contest here. Contest is running now through August 31st.
A quickie here for the BlackBerry Storm users on Bell. The Canadian CDMA carrier has officially launched the latest version of the Storm OS, version 4.7.0.148. If you’ve been waiting for an official version to launch, now is your chance to update to the latest and greatest.
You can go ahead and grab OS 4.7.0.148 for the BlackBerry Storm 9530right here via the Bell downloads site… But as always, be sure to backup your device and take all necessary precautions before you proceed.
Here’s the latest rumor from the land of Canadian mobile. Word has it that Samsung lovers in the Great White North are in for a treat. Samsung is set to release the ‘Link’ via Bell on July 15th. Not much else is known at this point (no pricing or device specs), but as you can see from the amazing image above (can you feel the sarcasm?), the Link will at the very least feature a full QWERTY keyboard. No slider here.
Stay tuned for more on the Samsung Link… I’m very interested to learn more about this one!
Here she is, a video look at the promo kit Bell stores have received for the BlackBerry Tour 9630. All sorts of Tour goodness is contained within, including the much requested beach ball (really, I have no idea why a beach ball is in there). But seriously, all sorts of promo materials are found inside. I’d LOVE to get my hands on the dummy phone, for some reason I get a kick out of ‘em.
Canadian mobile aficionados have no doubt been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre. It has long been known that the webOS-powered device will arrive on Bell, but the exact launch date has been up in the air for some time now. Recently, an internal memo leaked out that noted Bell staff training dates for the Pre, a sure sign that the device would be launching sooner than later… but if a snippet from a document leaked by MobileSyrup is valid, it looks like Bell will be the exclusive carrier for at least the first 6-months (we already knew that Bell was going to be the exclusive carrier… the timeframe is the news here).
You may recall a 
One more quick tidbit of Canadian mobile news coming your way 
Looks like Mr. Blurrycam was hard at work on this one. 
A quickie here for the 
