AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson publicly said that his company, currently the No. 2 mobile phone service in the U.S., would be interested in selling the Palm Pre smartphone at some point in the future.
Palm's latest and most hyped phone is scheduled to go on sale for the Sprint Nextel network on June 6. The Sprint version of the Pre is a UMTS version, though a move to AT&T would likely mean a GSM version of the phone would enter development in the future.
"Would I like to see that on our network some day? Of course I would," Stephenson recently said during the D Conference in Carlsbad, California. "We obviously talk to all the handset manufacturers. We want a broad selection of devices in the lineup. That's important. Devices right now are what's driving the customer adoption as much as anything."
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AT&T seeking the hyped Pre could be a vital boost for Palm, as some analysts remain unconvinced launching the phone only on the Sprint network would work. Both Sprint and Palm haven't disclosed how long Sprint has exclusive access to the Pre, but it's probably comforting to Palm officials to hear AT&T is interested.
AT&T would be able to better market the phone -- even though Sprint and Palm have marketed the Pre well -- it's still not comparable to what AT&T would be able to do if the Pre makes a carrier switch.
I previously wrote how there is a lot riding on the anticipated June 6 launch, and even though I like some of the Pre's features, I likely wouldn't purchase one because it's on the Sprint network. I'm currently a Verizon Wireless subscriber and vowed to either stay with Verizon or hop back over to AT&T.
