O2 chosen as exclusive UK carrier for Palm Pre

7th Jul 2009 15:36

Palm has chosen Telefonica, which owns O2, as the exclusive carrier in Europe for its much-lauded smartphone, the Pre.The move surprised some industry pundits as O2 already owns the UK licence for the Apple iPhone, which will go head-to-head with the Palm Pre in the smartphone sector."We are fast becoming the home of the smartphone with the addition of the hotly anticipated Palm Pre to our already extensive portfolio," said Matthew Key, chairman and chief executive officer of Telefónica Europe. "Our customers will be the first outside of North America to experience one of the most successful mobile devices of the year," he added.The Pre, which includes a modem, a gesture-based screen interface as well as a slide-out Qwerty keyboard, has been on sale in the US since early June. Its UK release date has still not been determined; Jonathan Earle, O2's head of consumer marketing would only go so far as to say it would be available before Christmas, at a price yet to be determined.