Days after AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson disclosed AT&T would like to offer the Palm Pre smartphone, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam told investors his company will offer Pre within six months.
Along with the Pre, Verizon is expected to launch some type of cousin device also created by Palm -- with an expected launch sometime within six months, though details of the unit are currently unavailable.
Sprint Nextel, the only company to officially carry the Pre when it initially launches June 6, said McAdam's statements are incorrect, as Sprint will have exclusive access to the Pre throughout 2009. After AT&T disclosed its desires for the anticipated Palm smartphone, the actual length of the exclusively contract was unknown.
Palm has struggled over the past few years with competition from Apple, HTC, Research In Motion (RIM), Nokia, and other companies forcing the company to rely heavily on the Pre smartphone to spark new interest in their products. Some analysts and journalists think the future of the company is riding on Pre's success; having AT&T and Verizon say they want the Pre, along with a decent level of consumer interest, indicates the phone could see solid sales numbers.
Along with the Pre, Verizon also plans to launch a new BlackBerry Storm smartphone, along with Motorola phones and Google Android-based devices in the future. I'm currently a Verizon subscriber but have been thinking about switching to AT&T, though a promise of a better device pipeline may be able to help convince me otherwise.
