What's Up with Palm on AT&T?

I was just looking at the AT&T website, and I noticed that there are no Centro or Treo 750 smartphones available for sale. I'll admit that both devices, the Palm OS 5 Centro and the Windows Mobile Treo 750 aren't new devices by any definition, but you would expect that AT&T would still have some units in stock.

I have read some Internet rumors that said that the Palm webOS powered Eos smartphone would be arriving on the AT&T network sometime around the end of the year, but nothing specific. I have also not read anythign that would indicate that Palm is halted the sale of the AT&T smartphones.

Windows Mobile customers can still get the Palm Treo Pro as an unlocked device and use their existing AT&T 3G SIM cards with the device if they wish.

I'll have to keep an eye on this one.

Rumor: A Pair of AT&T Phones Get Leaked

Engadget is reporting that AT&T has some new phone goodness headed our way for the back half of 2009.

If the frenzy around the Palm Pre coming to Sprint in just about 9 days doesn't make your head spin, Palm fans should get ready for the Palm Eos which is expected to show up on AT&T. Eos is expected to replace the last Palm OS smartphone currently on the market, the Palm Centro. From the slides that Engadget got their hands on, we have now officially leared that Eos' code name was the long rumored "Castle" smartphone.


Andorid fans should get ready for the new HTC Qwerty slider, Lancaster. This GSM "consumer social messageing device" should get the under 30 crowd lining up at their local AT&T stores in early August if the rumors are correct and everything falls into place between now and then.

You can read the Palm Eos and HTC Lancaster articles over on Engadget.

BlackBerry Bold Goes on Sale at AT&T

As promised, the new RIM BlackBery Bold has gone on sale today at AT&T. Of the new corporate-minded device, AT&T writes:

"Get the fastest BlackBerry on the fastest 3G network. The global BlackBerry® Bold™ smartphone is designed to give business professionals both cutting edge functionality and performance under one bold intuitive design. It comes fully-loaded with integrated GPS for AT&T Navigator and Wi-Fi for access at thousands of AT&T hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks. The BlackBerry Bold smartphone has a brilliant color LCD screen for exceptional definition and clarity. Pictures are vibrant and sharp while videos play smoothly and web pages, documents, presentations, and messages come to life with exceptional quality and contrast. Get more speed and more power with the BlackBerry Bold."

The BlackBerry Bold's features include:

• Half-VGA (480 x 320 at 217 ppi) color display
• A newly designed full QWERTY keyboard for exceptionally fast and easy typing
• Built-in GPS and Wi-Fi radios
• 624 MHz mobile processor
  
• More storage — 1 GB on board and up to 16 GB via its microSD/SDHC expansion slot
• Advanced media player for music, videos and photos
• 2 megapixel camera with built-in flash, zoom and video recording
• optimized Web-browsing experience with desktop-style depiction
• DataViz Documents To Go for editing Word, Excel and PowerPoint files
  

The complete list of the Bold's features and technical specifications can be found on the AT&T website.

Pricing

The new BlackBerry Bold retails for $549.99 without a contract commitment from AT&T. When you sign up for a 2-year service agreement, the price drops down to $399.99. Additionally, AT&T is offering a $100 mail-in rebate which brings the cost of the device down to $299.99. To take advantage of the mail-in rebate, customers will have to sign up for a $35/month data or messaging plan. That shouldn't be a deal breaker for most customers as a BlackBerry without the data service isn't very useful.

Briefly Noted: Palm Smartphone Changes

Kris Keilhack over at PalmInfoCenter.com is reporting two Palm product chances.

Treo 750 Nearing End of Life?


The first is that it appears that Palm and AT&T are moving to end-of-life (EOL) the Palm Treo 750. Of the Treo 750, Mr. Keilhack writes:

"Aside from the evergreen Treo 700wx on Verizon, the 750 remains Palm's oldest current smartphone. Replacing the 750 with the new Treo Pro would appear to be a logical move but to date nothing more than rumors have indicated that Palm's flagship device will be appearing in subsidized form on any domestic GSM carrier.

Originally launched in September 2006 with Windows Mobile 5.2, the Treo 750 is now well over two years old. So despite the presence of the WM6 update released last fall, it is beginning to look a bit long in the tooth relative to not only competing handsets but even its newer Windows Mobile-powered Treo sister devices, the Treo 800w and Treo Pro."

Verizon Centro ROM Upgrade


Palm and Verizon have made a free ROM maintenace upgrade available to customers using Verizon-branded Centro smartphones. Writing for PalmInfoCenter, Mr. Keilhack writes:

"Palm is being rather vague on the specific improvements in this update, claiming only: "This software update is a minor tune-up that may improve device usability in certain situations."

Palm customers who are using Verizon branded Centros can learn more about and download the latest ROM update here. Sprint customers received a similar update back in July.

BlackBerry Bold Headed for AT&T on Nov 4th

In a press release issued earlier today, Research In Motion announced that the new BlackBerry Bold will be launching on AT&T's 3G wireless network on Tuesday, November 4, 2008.

"The BlackBerry Bold smartphone's design and performance live up to its name. The elegant smartphone features a lustrous black exterior, satin chrome-finished frame and stylish, leatherette backplate with a stunning half-VGA (480 x 320 at 217 ppi) color display for eye-popping visuals and a newly designed full QWERTY keyboard for exceptionally fast and easy typing. On the inside, the BlackBerry Bold features built-in GPS and Wi-Fi®, a powerful new 624 MHz mobile processor that provides impressive performance, more storage memory than ever before — 1 GB on board and up to 16 GB via its microSD/SDHC expansion slot — and a rich set of multimedia capabilities, including an advanced media player for music, videos and photos and a 2 megapixel camera with built-in flash, zoom and video recording, as well as an optimized Web-browsing experience with desktop-style depiction."

"The BlackBerry Bold is the best BlackBerry smartphone ever, backed by the nation's fastest 3G network and the hands-down best international coverage of any carrier," said Ralph de la Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility. "The BlackBerry Bold is the complete package, providing customers with an absolutely outstanding mobile experience whether doing e-mail, browsing the Web, viewing streaming video or simply making a phone call. And it is being introduced in the U.S. only from AT&T."

The new BlackBerry Bold will sell for $299 with a qualifying 2-year service agreement that includes voice and data.

Read the full RIM press release...


I have to say that I'm really interested in the BlackBerry Curve, and what can only be it's successor, the Bold. What I like most about them is the hardware keyboard and the navigation ball on the face of the device. Being a long time Palm Treo customer, I really rely on having that hardware Qwerty keyboard. I just can't seem to get used to the soft keyboard that has been implemented on Apple's iPhone and iPod touch. I'm all about the keyboard.

The other feature that I really like is the placement of the trackball. With the older BlackBerry devices that I've used, I really hated the fact that the scroll wheel was always on the right side of the device with me being left handed.

AT&T Treo 680 Reaches EOL

The Boy Genius Report has gotten their hands on what appears to the the latest AT&T wireless road map, which shows the Palm Treo 680 reaching End of Life (EOL). The crimson Treo 680 in November, 2006 on Cingular, which was latter gobbled up by AT&T.

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend, Palm made three important moves, not that anyone noticed with iPhonemania 2.0 in full swing.

Electric Blue Centro, Temporary Price Cut

On Friday, Palm introduced a new electric blue Centro on the AT&T wireless network. If you are following along on your scorecards, AT&T now has three colors to choose from: obsidian black, glacier white, and now electric blue. To entice even more people to chose Centro, AT&T has lowered the price to $69.99 when you sign up for a qualifying two-year service agreement. That is great news for anyone looking to jump on the smartphone bandwagon!

You can purchase an AT&T Centro either online from the Palm or AT&T website, or from any AT&T retail outlet. For more details, visit the Palm Centro website.


Sprint Begins Selling the Palm Treo 800w

At long last the new Palm Treo 800w is available! It has a great looking case and offers several new built-in features previously unavailable on any previous Palm smartphone.

Just some of the new features include Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.1; a 320x320 touch screen display, a 2.0MP camera, and built-in Wi-Fi and GPS radios. The new Treo retails for $599, however, when you sign up for a qualifying service plan, after instant and mail-in rebates, the 800w sells for $249.99. A handsome price for what could be a very nice phone.

On Sunday night, Palm has yet to issue a press release or update their website and online store. Look for more details come Monday morning.


Oh Palm, sigh…

Working with AT&T to bring out a new Centro, if only in color, and putting a price cut in place was the right thing to do. And launching the much-anticipated Treo 800w on Sprint was another positive step forward.

Yet, once again, Palm’s marketing department show how inept they are. Launching two new phones and introducing a price cut during the same weekend that Apple was rolling out their new iPhone 3G and iPhone 2.0 software was just poor planning.

John Paczkowski from the D: All Things Digital website, has the perfect quote from Charlie Wolf who is an analyst at Needham & Company. The quote reads:

“They took the wrong day to do it,” said Charlie Wolf, a wireless analyst at Needham & Co. “It’s going to be drowned out by the hoopla around the iPhone.”

I truly hope that Palm learns from this mistake, and doesn’t start talking publicly about their Palm OS II/Nova plans and/or devices during the same week that Apple is rolling out new products at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco come January 2009. Palm needs to get out in front of Apple, or get behind them. Just don’t go toe-to-toe with them.

Palm Introduces the AT&T Centro

Palm has officially taken the wraps off of the rumored white AT&T Palm Centro consumer-oriented smartphone.

With the exception of the new GSM cellular radio and AT&T specific software, such as Push To Talk, the new GSM AT&T Centro is expected to be very similar in product specifications as the previously release Centro smartphones from rival wireless carrier Sprint and the recently announced unlocked GSM Centro that will begin selling across Europe shortly.

"Centro offers customers more choices to stay in touch with friends, family and co-workers by using voice, text messaging, instant messaging, e-mail or the Web. Featuring a color touch-screen and full QWERTY keyboard, Centro is the first Palm OS® product to launch with AT&T services, such as XM Radio Mobile, Push to Talk and MusicID."

"The demand for crossover devices is skyrocketing, and the Centro hits a sweet spot for many customers looking for a QWERTY device with a solid suite of messaging and multimedia features," said Michael Woodward, vice president, Business Mobility Products for AT&T's wireless unit. "At a great price that can be coupled with a variety of AT&T's messaging and data options, we are thrilled to offer Centro to our 70.1 million customers."

"Centro offers a simple way for customers to stay connected to the people who are important to them while better managing their increasingly hectic lifestyles, all at the price of a traditional mobile phone," said Brodie Keast, senior vice president of Marketing for Palm, Inc."

The AT&T Centro will sell for $99 with a new two-year service agreement. It is expected to sell for $399 without a service agreement. According to today's press release, there will be an obsidian black edition of the AT&T Centro which is expected to begin shipping in about four weeks. The glacial white Centro goes on sale today at AT&T retail outlets and online at www.att.com and the Palm online store. AT&T's unlimited data plan has been priced at $30 a month in addition to their standard voice and messaging plans.

Read the full Palm press release...

Update:

The Palm Centro website has been updated to include the AT&T Centro product specifications along side the Sprint Centro specifications.