The Palm Treo Pro is now available for purchase through Sprint Wireless.  The Treo Pro features Windows Mobile 6.1, GPS, WiFi, full QWERTY keyboard and a host of features. We reviewed the unlocked Treo Pro back in November. You can also read customer reviews of the Treo Pro for feedback from our readers.

The Palm Treo Pro retails for $199.99 after a $100 rebate with a 2-year agreement.

 

According to various Spanish media outlets, Telefonica’s Movistar will be the exclusive carrier of the Palm Pre in Spain, UK and Latin America. Expansion reports that Telefonica will offer the Palm Pre “before summer”. Of course, this is still unconfirmed. The report also states that Telefonica’s subsidiary brand O2 will have the Palm Pre exclusive in the UK.

Palm has confirmed that a GSM Palm Pre is in the works and would release in Europe. The company has yet to make any official announcements on carriers. Given their long history with Vodafone, many have speculated they would be the exclusive carrier in the UK.

We still expect Palm to release the CDMA version on Sprint Wireless in the US before Europe or Latin America.

via PalmInfoCenter

We had a sneaky suspicion that Engadget’s appearance on Jimmy Fallon might include an appearance by the Palm Pre and we were not disappointed. Joshua Topolski of Engadget continued his great rapport with Fallon as they toured the interface of the upcoming Palm Pre.

Palm and Sprint today announced the Palm Treo Pro will be available on March 15th. The Treo Pro will retail for $199.99 with a 2-year contract (after a $100 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate, with an Everything plan with data or a $30 per month or higher data add-on).

The Treo Pro on Sprint will be available through the Palm Store and all Sprint retail channels.

“Business decision makers require a product that not only integrates seamlessly into their existing IT infrastructures, but one that’s also cost-effective,” said John Traynor, vice president, business products, Palm, Inc. “Treo Pro delivers just that – a feature set that IT managers need to support their mobile work force.”

Treo Pro is the first Palm phone available with Internet Explorer Mobile 6, with options for either a mobile-optimized or desktop-like Internet browsing experience on America’s most dependable 3G network.(2) It blends a high-resolution color touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with a removable battery that packs up to five hours of talk time and enough strength for the business user’s needs, offering a powerful yet effortless mobile experience. Palm’s Wi-Fi hardware and software innovations on Treo Pro make it easy to get online fast and manage network connections and power usage. The one-touch Wi-Fi button provides a clean, uncluttered Wi-Fi experience that gets Treo Pro users rapidly connected at home, in the office or in Wi-Fi hotspots.

“The combination of Sprint Mobile Broadband with EV-DO (Evolution – Data Optimized) Revision (Rev.) A technology and Windows Mobile 6.1 on a Palm smartphone creates a mobile solution that meets the needs of today’s mobile professionals,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product & technology development for Sprint. “For years, Sprint, Microsoft and Palm have worked together to provide businesses large and small with an affordable mobile experience that is second to none, and Treo Pro continues that collaborative tradition.”

Sprint EV-DO Rev. A, Exclusive Content and Services

In 2008, Sprint revolutionized unlimited pricing in the wireless industry by moving beyond its competitors to deliver more features for a flat monthly rate of $99.99. Sprint’s Simply Everything(SM) plan is ideal for smartphones that can extensively leverage wireless data applications and provides unlimited nationwide calling, messaging, email, Web browsing, GPS navigation and much more – all for the monthly rate of only $99.99.(3)

Treo Pro offers integrated GPS, enabling Sprint Navigation with turn-by-turn directions, maps and point-of-interest searches for locations such as restaurants or stores. Additional Sprint-exclusive content available on Treo Pro(4) includes:

•    Sprint TV® – Allows Treo Pro users to watch TV or video-on-demand or catch the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment and movie trailers on the go.
•    Sprint Music – Enables users to wirelessly download digital music tracks to Treo Pro and choose from hundreds of thousands of full-length songs from virtually every genre.
•    Pocket Express – Retrieves customized, up-to-date Web content such as sports, weather, news, money and movie information with the push of a button.

Treo Pro users can easily stay in touch with family and friends using Sprint Messaging, offering threaded SMS, and the ability to share pictures and video with MMS seamlessly in one application. It also offers Sprint IM with access to Yahoo! Messenger, AOL’s AIM® service and MSN Messenger.

With an open network platform, Sprint is able to offer customers new business applications created through Sprint’s Professional Developer Program. A robust community of application developers that previously focused on desktop services is now finding it easier to generate services that can perform on both the desktop and mobile devices.

The Palm Experience on Windows Mobile 6.1

Treo Pro supports Microsoft Direct Push Technology(5) for up-to-date email, contacts and calendars. With the deployment of Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, Treo Pro can deliver increased security, easier smartphone management, and access to information on the corporate network. IT professionals can confidently manage large Treo Pro deployments the same way they manage PCs.

With Internet Explorer Mobile 6, Treo Pro brings users a new, full-featured, high-quality browsing experience. Users can choose to browse in a mobile-optimized mode or in a desktop browser mode. Microsoft brings a mobile Web-browsing experience on par with what end users and developers have come to expect from their desktops – the ability to easily view Web pages and multimedia on the Web and best-in-class capability to complete transactions, from banking to checking in for a flight. Treo Pro helps optimize business processes by mobilizing users with several Palm specific enhancements to the Windows platform, including:

•    One-touch Wi-Fi button — Easy, fast Wi-Fi connection experience (802.11b/g).(1)
•    Ringer switch – Silences the device immediately.
•    Clock and date screen saver – Lets users know at a glance – without turning on the device – what date and time it is and whether they’ve missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.
•    New voicemail indicator – The center button flashes to let users know that a voicemail is waiting.
•    Dedicated email and calendar buttons – Fast one-button access.

Sprint also launched Ready Now, a revolution in the wireless retail experience, in all company-owned Sprint stores last fall. With Ready Now, Sprint has trained and committed its retail associates to work one-on-one with customers to personalize phones, set up features and demonstrate how phones work – before customers leave the store. Treo Pro customers can work with Sprint retail associates to learn more about how they can fully leverage the strengths of their device on Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network.

Pricing and Availability

Treo Pro will be available March 15 through all Sprint retail channels, including www.sprint.com/treopro, 1-800-SPRINT1 and Sprint retail stores, for $199.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement (after a $100 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate, with an Everything plan with data or a $30 per month or higher data add-on). It will be available through the Palm Store (www.palm.com/store) and Palm’s B2B sales organization beginning March 16.

Engadget posted a teaser about their editor-in chief’s scheduled appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday that one might suggest implies a Pre sighting could occur.

“We’re pretty sure you won’t want to miss it… unless you hate awesome surprises (trust us, it’s a doozy). Of you need your memory jogged on the last time Josh and Jimmy met up (or just haven’t seen it yet) check out the video …. “

The two met up at CES and most of the conversation surrounding the Palm Pre.  The reference to the prior meet-up could have something to do with the Pre or simply the writers capitalizing on an opportunity to show a very entertaining exchange between the two. Either way, set your TiVo for Monday night. There might just be something Pre.

Looking to talk Pre, register today for our Pre forums.

via Engadget

Mitch Allen, Software CTO for Palm, hosted a webcast earlier this week on developing applications for the companies new webOS operating system. The webcast is technical in nature, but might appeal to those looking to gain further insight into Palm’s new OS. The webcast video is 60 minutes in length and provides a preview into application development with the Mojo SDK.

The Palm Pre release date continues to remain a mystery, but that did not stop the upcoming Pre from making an appearance at last night’s Oscars event. Stars attending the Independant Spirit Awards received a swag bag that contained a Palm Pre. Earlier reports were that the Palm Pre portion of the swag would come as late as July. By all accounts, it looks like stars such as Eliza Dushku scored a Palm Pre in their swag bag.

Is this a sign that a release is in the not-so distant future? 

via Engadget

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Palm was demonstrating webOS on the new Palm Pre. CNET UK captured a comprehensive look at Palm Synergy, the webOS browser and a great look at the entire UI (user interface).