Vodafone Treo 500v Now Available For Sale
I wish that this announcement was taking placing with a US carrier but it’s nonetheless great to see that Palm Europe announced that the Palm Treo 500v smartphone will be available from today in all of Vodafone’s 347 stores across the UK – starting from free on a Vodafone contract.
I have been lucky to be one of the few people outside Palm to currently have a Treo 500 in my hands and everyone that I’ve had the opportunity to show it to while in the US (from people at Engadget, Gizmodo and CNet among others) has had the same reaction as me upon first laying their hands on one – they’re surprisingly impressed by the overall build and slickness of the device.
It’s certainly very encouraging to see that Palm’s product design team appears to finally be producing devices that significantly break away from the 6 and 7 series Treo smartphones (see Treo 500 Unboxed) and that overall people are responding very positively to these new designs and much improved form factors.
The Palm Treo 500v smartphone runs on a Windows Mobile 6 standard platform and has a full keyboard, large screen, video streaming capability and a comprehensive multi-messaging functionality covering Instant Messaging, SMS, email, phone and personal information management software in a new design. The compact form factor is available in two colours: glacier white and charcoal grey (picture above).
The new Treo 500v smartphone, an internet ready Vodafone live! device, is one of Vodafone’s key handsets for Christmas 2007. It’s a phone that is designed to appeal to the growing UK consumer base that now seek the same functionality and ease of use that business customers continue to enjoy with the Palm Treo products.
The Treo 500v smartphone is priced to enable a broader audience to experience the internet and email on the go, with a pay monthly or pay as you go option for consumer users. For pay monthly customers, the device is free on a Vodafone contract. Those opting for the pay as you go package will pay £220 for the smartphone. For Vodafone business customers, the contract prices range from free to £85.11 depending on what contract the user opts for.
Additional benefits for Palm Treo 500v smartphone customers include document management using mobile versions of familiar Microsoft applications such as Outlook, Office and Mobile. Users can also share the Treo 500v smartphone’s data access with a laptop (DUN), so they can stay connected anywhere within wireless coverage.
A range of accessories for the new Palm Treo 500v smartphone is also available from the Palm Store Europe. The range, including leather cases, microSD memory cards up to 4GB and wireless headsets will be available so that Palm Treo 500v users can customise their smartphone. Hopefully we’ll be seeing the Treo 500 on Verizon, Sprint and/or AT&T by the end of the year…
Treonauts are always ready for something new… 
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Comments
Too bad the OS and the User Interface is entirely made by Microsoft and customized by Vodafone. Palm's design team had nothing to do with it.
Just a Palm brand on the outside...
I had seen the 500v appear on the European Palm sites a short while ago and I was surprised (read disappointed) to see that Palm had chosen to come out with a WM6 offering rather than a Palm OS. Of course there is the Centro now available in North America, but that is a CDMA device for now. Note that the Treo 500, unlike the Centro, does not have a touchscreen - which may not matter too much with WM6 but is an interesting step for Palm to take nonetheless.
Well, PalmOS has a market share of, what, 2% in Europe? While Windows Mobile is the clear market leader in Europe.
No wonder they have a market share of 2% or so after not having improved that OS for four years or so. And as we heard yesterday they just found out we have to wait for another year for a replacement. Which will be a 1.0 version then, btw., i.e., we can expect it will be in a beta stadium...
How old the OS is pretty much irrelevant, Palm have never had a big market share outside the US. The Palm brand name isn't very well known and that has to do with poor marketing. Now they've paired up with Vodafone hopefully they can improve their image and establish a brand identity.
I beg to differ. I remember a time (1998-2001) where PalmOS was clear market leader in Europe. But AFTER that period, it was the age of the PocketPCs + GPS + Tomtom. Everyone started to buy them, just to have Navigation alone.
Palm had PalmOS 4 and Motorola Dragonball CPUs at 33 MHz that could not match the GPS solutions of PocketPCs. That's when Palm started to lose market share big time.
Nowadays? I think everyone in Europe thinks PalmOS is dead. Because, well, it is over here. Fortuantely, in the Americas, PalmOS still holds a reasonable market share.
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