Palm reveal iPhone competitor

Palm has kicked off CES with the launch of a new smartphone – the Pre – which is tipped to topple iPhone from its throne.

Palm has kicked off CES with the launch of a new smartphone – the Pre – which is tipped to topple iPhone from its throne. According to Ed Colligan, president and chief executive of Palm, the phone’s selling points include an emphasis on fast Web browsing and efficient multitasking.

The sleek black phone unit with 8 gigabytes of storage, GPS navigational capabilities and Wi-Fi. It has a 3.1-inch touch-screen display as well as a slide-out keyboard.

The Pre and the new operating system will “redefine the centre of your access point to the Internet,” said Colligan. “The default thinking of this platform isn’t to hook up to a desktop PC, it is to connect to the cloud”

The Pre features a sophisticated touch-screen interface and a single e-mail in-box that pulls in mail from work and personal accounts. Unlike the iPhone, the Pre combines Internet instant messaging and traditional phone-based text messaging into a single program. The phone charges on a special charging platform without the need to attach a cable.

Palm hope the Pre will reinvigorate the company’s image. Once seen as the leader in handheld devices and smartphones, Palm now trails behind Blackberry and the iPhone for market share.

Palm shareholders are pleased with the move, notably Plam board member Roger McNamee, who is a co-founder of Elevation Partners, an investment firm that last year invested $325 million in Palm. This month it agreed to invest $50 million to $100 million more, which could bring its stake in Palm to as much as 40 percent.

McNamee commented: “Apple’s Mac OS X is about eight years old, and the BlackBerry platform is more than a decade old.” he said. “Palm’s platform is brand-new. A new platform gives us the opportunity to innovate the way Google goes. This product is just the starting point.”

Source: NY Times