[Teso Dos Bichos]

Correct me if I'm wrong but sim-free and/or carrier-free doesn't mean that it won't work with carrier. It only states that not carrier will sell the phone but the manufacturer.
After buying sim-free phone, you just go to ANY carrier office you want and buy ANY contract they offer. And you get a fully functional phone.
Further more. The lesser prices for phones with contracts is just a advertising trick. In fact you overpay the full phone price in subscription fees.

The latter is not necessarily true. I pay around £412 a year on my business contract. I would be paying £400 just to own the Pre 2 sim-free. The contract covers all of my phone usage and provides a variety of benefits including upgrades every 12 months and 24 hour handset replacement. I would say it is well worth it.

[Zen00]

Your one of the lucky ones then, most carriers in the US completely rip their customers off. The average price paid to own a smartphone in contract fees is $1700, T-mobile is the only one who offers a contract free pricing, and $1200, which you could have bought the phone out right with the difference.

[semprance]

The latter is not necessarily true. I pay around £412 a year on my business contract. I would be paying £400 just to own the Pre 2 sim-free. The contract covers all of my phone usage and provides a variety of benefits including upgrades every 12 months and 24 hour handset replacement. I would say it is well worth it.

While true, remember that o2 offers 'Simplicity' tariffs that gives your more minutes/texts/data but no handset, so arguably it could be worthwhile for those people.

The question is, how many people on tariffs like this are going to buy a Pre 2? My guess: little or none.

[RUSH]

I guess HP put too high price for Pre2, and European carriers are not interested to invest in WebOS device.

Exactly, the pre 2 should have debut here.(States) (The now network).

[cgk]

The Pre 2 has already sold out in the UK - so either it was a massive massive hit (highly unlikely) or they didn't have very many to start with. Maybe the situation was simply that they'd paid for an run of these and just decided to off-load them to recouple the cost and see if anyone was interested?

Surely the Pre as a line is done?

[BlueC]

The Pre 2 has already sold out in the UK

Sorry? Was that a typo? It hasn't even gone on sale (officially) yet at all. It is still in stock and available on the Palm EU website.

As to why the carriers aren't stocking it... who knows, but perhaps Palm still have a stack of Pre Plus/Pixi they need to shift so might not even want a carrier contract for the Pre 2 and maybe they didn't make many Pre 2's as it is merely a stop-gap product.

[Teso Dos Bichos]

Your one of the lucky ones then, most carriers in the US completely rip their customers off. The average price paid to own a smartphone in contract fees is $1700, T-mobile is the only one who offers a contract free pricing, and $1200, which you could have bought the phone out right with the difference.

That looks pretty bad. At least you will generally benefit from products being released earlier and with rebates.

While true, remember that o2 offers 'Simplicity' tariffs that gives your more minutes/texts/data but no handset, so arguably it could be worthwhile for those people.

The question is, how many people on tariffs like this are going to buy a Pre 2? My guess: little or none.

Not really. Use my £412 a year for comparison. The cheapest Simplicity for smart phones tariffs are as follows:

1 month - £20
12 month - £15

So over 12 months you would be paying £180 or £240 just on the contract alone and £580 or £640 if you include a sim-free Pre 2. It simply does not compare and that is just looking at the bare minimum Simplicity tariff. No carrier subsidy equals dead on arrival.

Sorry? Was that a typo? It hasn't even gone on sale (officially) yet at all. It is still in stock and available on the Palm EU website.

It randomly allowed orders at stupid o'clock Saturday morning. It was no doubt an error which is why they simply changed it to being out of stock for a period.

[semprance]

T
Not really. Use my £412 a year for comparison. The cheapest Simplicity for smart phones tariffs are as follows:

1 month - £20
12 month - £15

So over 12 months you would be paying £180 or £240 just on the contract alone and £580 or £640 if you include a sim-free Pre 2. It simply does not compare and that is just looking at the bare minimum Simplicity tariff. No carrier subsidy equals dead on arrival.

Yes but if you're on a Simplicity tariff you'll have to buy a smartphone regardless of whether it costs more than a contract with the same phone for free. What you're saying applies to EVERY phone on contract compared to buying unlocked outside of your contract, but Simplicity users still have to buy a phone to use their sim.

[donjt81]

hahaha I love it. None of the carriers want this pos in europe. Now if only the us carriers boycott the pre2 too.

palm is going down in flames. I love my pre but when they announced the pre2 I thought to myself, at this point palm deserves to go down in flames. They are trying to fool the consumers with the pre2.

[c_legaspi]

i too will be passing on the pre 2 (unless i can get it very cheap...$200 or less, unlocked).

second thought, ill just pass all together. its a good phone for those looking to replace their orignal pre.

im an att pre plus owner but i think the pre 2 would of been better off in sales if it were on sprint and not verizon.

[ilovedessert]

Hi all,

My take on all of this is as follows:

These firms are taking a pass on the Pre II since the PRE or the PPP didn't set any sales records...and had a few defects in the implementation of the hardware....

I think they are passing on the Pre II for the same reason that I and a large number of us who read this site on a regular basis. It is no secret that the PRE II was designed by Palm, when they are almost totally out of $.

Like most of us here, I am expecting a bang up presentation and announcements of release dates for the HP/Palm new phones and the PalmPad at CES 2011!

I am guessing that once the buyout happened, the PRE II was released so that Palm could point to having something recently out of the pipeline, while we await the news of smartphones designed once HP started injecting a huge pile of $ into Palm.

I am waiting until the new phones are released and then I will give up my trusty Centro for a new Palm smartphone, that will be more advanced than the PRE II.

Many of us here expect that the following will be released in 2011:
1. PalmPad about the same size as the Ipad or slightly larger than the Ipad.

2. Slab type smartphone that is larger than the Pre/PPP & PRE II, and won't have a keyboard.

3. The same as item #2, but has a landscape keyboard or a much larger portrait keyboard, due to the larger phone & screen.

4. a mini PalmPad, perhaps a 7" screen.

5. smart phone that is more or less the same size as the Pre/PPP & PRE II, but has a great deal more under the hood, than the PRE II!

I also think that all 5 models will have a very high resolution screen and will also have a gyroscope for future game use.

One last thought:

HP has a great deal of muscle when it comes to marketing. I expect that we will see HP marketing strength used to leverage HP/Palm smartphones and the PalmPad.

For example: I assume that there are Netbook deals thru the providers, in the UK, just as there are here in the States. I expect that we will see wheeling & dealing for netbooks as a way of getting the carriers to sell the new HP/Palm line. I expect the same will be true for the HP/Palm line to be carried by retail stores, (that are not owned by the cell carriers, such as Best Buy, etc. here in the States).

Take care,

Jay

[StevenX]

That looks pretty bad. At least you will generally benefit from products being released earlier and with rebates.



Not really. Use my £412 a year for comparison. The cheapest Simplicity for smart phones tariffs are as follows:

1 month - £20
12 month - £15

So over 12 months you would be paying £180 or £240 just on the contract alone and £580 or £640 if you include a sim-free Pre 2. It simply does not compare and that is just looking at the bare minimum Simplicity tariff. No carrier subsidy equals dead on arrival.

The majority of customers will be on a 24 month contract however...

If you compare it that way the lowest comparable contracts would be the 300 minute one; £30 a month on contract, £15 a month on 12 month Simplicity. Saving is £15 a month. Over 24 months, the saving is £360, which reduces the deficit to £40 just.

I believe if your contract was a 24 month one (which, as a business contract, it seems it's not) the same numbers would apply.

I really do hope o2 are just holding off until January though, but I'm starting to lose faith...

[ShaneBunting96]

It's O2s fault. When they got the iPhone deal they did all they could to promote it! Of course, it was apple so it would sell anyway but they never did anything with the Pre. So what they had a webpage for it.. it's still there today and has the original pre. Palm were a small company and couldn't really do much to market it bit time here in the uk and relied on the carrier with the iPhone. It's kinda sad really because i believe Palm's webOS phones are better than iPhones, being an ex-3GS user myself.

[ShaneBunting96]

Also... Who needs the Palm Pre 2 in the UK to have a carrier, So far you can only get it unlocked for the price we all guessed anyway around £400 and it's £399 on the Palm Store and if anyone in the US wants one send over I'd be happy to assist.