Although AT&T has been saying it would be bringing Palm’s webOS smartphones to its networking since all the way back in January at CES, the company didn’t get around to affirming the deal until March. Since then, Palm’s future has gone from looking-dour to looking-rosy since being acquired by technology giant Hewlett-Packard…and now AT&T has officially made the Palm Pre Plus available to its customers. The Palm Pixi Plus will be following on June 6.
In keeping with AT&T’s originally announcement, the Palm Pre Plus is priced at $149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year service contract. Both the Pre Plus and the Pixi Plus will support AT&T’s address book service as a “Synergy” synchronization option and will be able to connect to AT&T’s large network of Wi-Fi hotspots. The Pre Plus also comes with a touchstone charger. The Pre Plus otherwise matches existing specs: 16 GB of user memory, a three megapixel camera with video capability, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, and a 3.1-inch 320 by 480-pixel display.
AT&T’s pricing is significantly higher than Verizon Wireless’s for the same phone—Verizon offers the Pre Plus for $29.99 with free Mobile Hotspot service. However, the real money on these devices is made in the service contracts, not the retail prices. As always, folks are best advised to pick both the phone and the plan that’s right for them…and for as far into the next two years as they can peer.
