AT&T Centro Launch Feb. 19?
According to various as yet unconfirmed rumours the eagerly anticipated new white AT&T Centro (image right) may become available as early as next Tuesday, February 19.
Following the great success of the Sprint Centro which has been available for $99 or less over the past three months I fully expect that the AT&T Centro will be launched at a similar price and thus prove to be an equally successful new smartphone launch for Palm.
Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Palm CEO Ed Colligan said that the Centro “is exceeding our expectations” and helping the company to reach a new category of consumers.
For starters, it appears that the Centro has proven particularly successful with women who account for a much larger proportion of overall buyers compared with the Treo. Also, the number of owners under 35 years old has increased markedly pointing to a much younger generation who has been attracted to the benefits of a Palm smartphone.
Additionally, in a recent survey Palm found that fully 75% of Centro owners had never used a smartphone before and were upgrading from a traditional mobile phone thus indicating that the company has developed a device that can compete effectively in the consumer segment against the likes of the iPhone and also been able to expand the appeal of its devices beyond its existing core user base – a very encouraging sign for the future.
I am naturally delighted to hear that the Centro is clearly making its mark on a new, younger consumer audience but like millions of existing Treonauts who are more focused on business applications I am still waiting to hear about concrete developments on our next generation PalmOS Treo smartphone (ETA early 2009) as well as the Windows Mobile Treo 800w which is expected to released in the coming months.
AT&T's Palm Centro en route for launch next week? [Engadget]
Palm CEO Says Centro Sales Exceeding Expectations [CNN Money]
Palm Centro selling well with women, new and young users [SFGate.com]
Centronauts are always ready to launch… 
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Comments
Any idea of when Verizon will jump on board and offer the Centro?
SLC - I'm really not sure what is going on with Verizon and Palm in general as they were once the best carrier partner and have now almost disappeared. In this light I honestly am not very hopeful to see the Centro on Verizon for quite some time.
Cheers, A.
Actually, Andrew, there are of lot of business power users like myself, who have switched from the Treo to the Centro. Same functionality in a smaller, lighter phone. I used to think it would be a cold day in Hell when I used the same phone as my teenaged daughter. Looks like Hell is freezing over.
I just called my local AT&T store (in Tulsa, Ok) and asked if they would have the centro next week and the sales lady said she has them for sale today (February 14th) . When I asked what colors she said only white... but that is great because it is just what I wanted. My guess is they aren't announcing it because AT&T has been running a Valentine's day special on their red and pink phones... although I'm no marketing guru so I am most likely wrong :)
It is true ! Release day planned for Tuesday. Unless corporate change their mind. I went to some stores in South Florida and is true they have them in stock. All "White" Palm Centro... "They are not on the Computer grid" so I was told. Since Jan 18 it has being on the rebate form. They claim can not be sold as of yet, some people do not know how much it will cost.
I after I tried the Blackberry, Blackjack II, I owning a two treo 680. I am staying with Palm.
I am not to hot about the white color but what the heck is different...
So on Tuesday I'll be knowking on the door first to get me at least one.
Keep in mind this phone it is competing with a deal that they giving of two Blackberry Pearl 8100 for $99.00.
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