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New Treo (Hollywood/Lennon?) For Europe With Vodafone

The rumour has been circulating for quite some time that Palm has been working on a new Treo with the largest European carrier Vodafone.  Finally today this rumour became reality as Palm, Vodafone and Microsoft officially announced their collaboration on a next-generation GSM Treo smartphone running Windows Mobile for Europe (see Treo Hollywood and Treo Nitro & Lennon).

According to Palm, “the Treo smartphone that will result from this collaboration will represent an industry first by operating on Vodafone's [high speed] 3G/UMTS network. The new Treo smartphone will be available first to Vodafone customers in multiple European countries, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and Netherlands, before the end of the calendar year”.

Additionally, although this has not yet been confirmed by either parties, it is anticipated that the Vodafone Treo will also be the first antenna-less model – a small but nonetheless extremely important detail to increase adoption in the fashion conscious European market where everyone has acknowledged that an antenna is a big no-no.  It is therefore not too surprising that a day before this announcement an image of such an antenna-less Windows Mobile Treo (pictured below) should have been leaked… 

Evidently, partnering with Vodafone and Microsoft for the European market makes a lot of sense for Palm on multiple fronts.  For starters, overall sales of Treo smartphones in Europe should increase significantly thanks to Vodafone’s leading market position and the fact that this is an entirely new carrier for Palm as previously only Orange marketed Treo smartphones in Europe.  Additionally, unlike Orange which categorically does not promote individual phones, Vodafone widely advertises its own offerings – particularly those that it considers will appeal to a business audience.  Finally, although I would naturally like to see a PalmOS version of this new Treo smartphone (likely to be offered by Orange this year) the fact is that Windows Mobile is more entrenched and recognized in the European market.

Vodafone itself states that "[Our] business customers expect us to help them increase productivity and make the most of their business and personal time," said Nick Jeffery, global director of Business Marketing. "The new Treo smartphone will be a market-leading device, which combined with our high-speed 3G/UMTS network and real-time push email, will make this an invaluable business tool."  Additionally, Microsoft's Messaging and Security Feature Pack available on Windows Mobile 5.0 now includes Direct Push Technology and enhanced security features.

I personally feel that Vodafone’s Treo has the potential to become the single largest and most successful launch for Palm outside of the US – one which may finally and categorically convert the European market to the Treonauts Lifestyle (albeit a Windows Mobile one)…

Palm, Vodafone and Microsoft Collaborate on Next-Generation Treo Smartphone for Europe [Palm Press Release]
Another blurry Treo "Hollywood" shot, plus specs? [Engadget]

Treonauts are always looking for friends across the globe


Posted by Andrew on July 13, 2006 at 02:17 PM

Treo 750

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Palm and Vodafone recently announced some fuzzy details about the upcoming new GSM Treo for Europe. I say fuzzy because there aren't really any hard specs yet - just that the device will be running Windows Mobile, and looks... [Read More]

Tracked on Jul 30, 2006 11:03:21 AM



Comments

1
by Just Curious | Jul 13, 2006 4:51:42 PM

Yes, but has there been any word on when there will be a Palm OS version AND when will it be available in the US?

2
by Kevin | Jul 13, 2006 7:55:15 PM

Well, I'm psyched. Again!

3
by Flatulent Egberto | Jul 13, 2006 11:03:17 PM

Do you know when the treo 90 is going to be released?

Thanks!
Ralph

4
by Greg | Jul 14, 2006 12:16:45 AM

Andew,
you might wanna look into the rumors regarding Treo 750. A sprint tech support person told me the other night that Sprint will be carrying Treo 750 in the next few months...

5
by Never mind the bollocks | Jul 14, 2006 4:20:38 AM

3G, good.

Now put the frikkin' WiFi in for Satan's sake!

Treo technology has been stagnant with incremental functionality snaking in every couple of years.

6
by Borszczuk | Jul 14, 2006 8:18:30 AM

As we see Palm OS is probably going under sooner than we can expect. Unfortunately it also seems that Palm is not much interested in having own OS instead ancient Palm OS, whatever it would be (linux based or else) ;-(

7
by zetsurin | Jul 14, 2006 2:23:46 PM

nooooo, never again windows mobile. looks like i better check the symbian market...

8
by Kevin | Jul 14, 2006 4:26:18 PM

I can live with WM. I've used both PalmOS and WM and I really don't prefer one to the other.

As the Lennon appears to have more features, that's probably the one I'll get. I was leaning on the Nitro a few weeks ago, though. Who knows?

And the reports claim the Lennon will have internal WiFi. We can only hope.

9
by Ron LaPedis | Jul 16, 2006 11:16:18 AM

WM? I hate WM. Unstable, bloated, eats batteries, and so on. Please give me PalmOS or something newer and not Microsloth.

Ron

10
by Fred | Jul 17, 2006 8:15:54 AM

Kevin -
Where did you see that the Lennon will have WiFi? A Treo with WiFi (and the Palm OS, of course) would be enough to convince me to upgrade from my 600.

11
by Kevin | Jul 17, 2006 6:14:41 PM

http://treo.about.com/b/a/007364.htm
http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2006/06/27/treo-nitro-and-treo-lennon-coming-to-cingular-in-october/

A few other places around--you can Google it--but everywhere the Lennon is mentioned, WiFi seems to be a mentioned feature. That may just mean that it supposts Palm's WiFi card, but I don't know why you'd mention an external card as a "feature" since it wouldn't be integraged.

No one really knows, but the way stuff is worded, it sounds like it may have internal WiFi. Again, we can only hope.

12
by Kevin | Jul 17, 2006 6:15:47 PM

Oh, and to clarify--I'm not talking about the Nitro (PalmOS) model, unfortunately. If WiFi is to be a feature of one of this phones, it would be the Lennon (WM) model.

13
by Ettore Mazza | Jul 18, 2006 7:48:13 AM

This is not the new Treo announced from Vodafone.

The reason is it lacks one more camera for videocommunication. In Europe, at this time, it would be a nonsense to release a 3G phone not capable of Videoconferencing.

When Nokia did this a couple of years ago they loose market share in favor of Samsung and LG that released handset with a second camera for videoconferencing.

Nokia indeed decided to release (for some models) a camera plugin / base to enable videoconferencing.

Ettore Mazza

14
by Nicole Simon | Jul 24, 2006 11:43:27 PM

As long as the data plans for normal people stay as ridiculiosly high as they are I don't see myself buying one on Vodaphone. (It is actually cheapest to get a italien prepaid from wind to have roughly 400 mb datatransfer for 20 euros ...)

15
by Kevin | Jul 30, 2006 11:32:02 AM

Just found this site.

http://msmobiles.com/news.php/5421.html

Federall-required blurriness in place, but details are fairly easy to make out--including what appears to be the WiFi connection icon at the top.

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