Amazon is reportedly close to setting a release date for the Kindle in the UK, with “advanced negotiations” underway with a carrier for providing the wireless connection via which the device downloads ebooks. According to Mobile Today, Amazon have called upon Qualcomm to manage not only the manufacturing of the GSM Kindle, but to “securing connectivity” for the UK device.
Could Apple UK be shopping around for a new carrier deal? Expect a flurry of denials from O2 and Apple themselves, but Orange and T-Mobile UK are both apparently in talks regarding carrying the iPhone 3G, Apple’s entry-level device now that the iPhone 3GS has arrived. According to the latest rumors, T-Mobile’s customer services team has been telling callers that the carrier is negotiating with Apple regarding the second-gen smartphone.
Palm’s big news for today was it’s announcement of the GSM Palm Pre and the exclusivity deals the company has carved out with O2 in the UK, Ireland and Germany, and Movistar in Spain. We had the opportunity to sit down with Palm and O2 today, and talk about what changes they’ve made to the smartphone, how they see it sitting in a range dominated by the iPhone 3GS, and why European customers will have to wait until the Christmas holidays before they can pick one up.
Hot on the heels of Palm’s Movistar GSM Pre sighting comes confirmation from carrier O2 that they’ll be offering the smartphone “in time for the Christmas holidays”. The handset will go on sale in the UK, Ireland and Germany on O2, with Spanish buyers getting the GSM Pre on Movistar. As expected, the only hardware change has been switching to support HSDPA/UMTS.
The GSM Palm Pre has made its first official appearance, on the company’s Spanish site. Unveiled as an exclusive to carrier Movistar, the Spanish network owned by Telefonica, the announcement lends further weight to the rumors that O2 – also a Telefonica carrier – will make some GSM Pre announcement this week.
Itchy trigger-finger or wishful thinking: either way, it’s interesting to see that the Palm Pre has shown up on Dutch carrier Hi’s website. A new support page isn’t necessarily big news, but given that Hi is a VMNO brand of KPN and they, in turn, are strongly associated with Telefonica, it makes sense given that O2 (owned by Telefonica – are you confused yet?) is a strong frontrunner for Pre exclusivity.
We’re due to sit down with Palm UK next week and – hopefully – find out all the details about the GSM Pre’s launch, but according to The Guardian news of the smartphone’s official UK carrier is already ready for prime-time. The paper has reported that carrier O2 have clinched Pre exclusivity, adding the new smartphone to a line-up that already includes the Apple iPhone 3GS.
Palm will announce the UK carrier with exclusivity for their GSM Pre next week, according to the latest news from the company. The launch will also included a release date and pricing details for the handset, making the UK the first region to see the Pre outside of the US.
Toshiba’s TG01 Windows Mobile smartphone is almost ready to launch in Germany, and a few more details regarding the slimline handset are emerging. Not only have O2 and Toshiba partnered with Nimbuzz to put their cross-platform social networking app on the TG01, but USB Host support has been confirmed.
It hasn’t taken hackers long to enable unofficial tethering on iPhone handsets running OS 3.0, and its taken carriers even less time to put out the predictable dire warnings regarding anyone found using such hacks. UK carrier and official Apple iPhone partner O2 have issued a statement suggesting that anybody found using tethering without their official “Bolt On” package will be charged or disconnected.
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