No, I'm not talking about anytime in the immediate future, but we all had a feeling it was coming: in separate announcements, both Verizon and AT&T have confirmed that they have the intention of picking up the Palm Pre once its six month exclusivity period expires with Sprint.
In an interview with Reuters, Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam confirmed that "over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm" land on the network. In a separate statement, he also announced that the year would be filled with launches from the carrier, as the company sought to launch several devices instead of focusing on one blockbuster item. "You can expect to see us launch a steady stream of new devices from multiple vendors," he said.
During a conference on Wednesday, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson also indicated that the number two wireless provider had intentions on picking up the device once the exclusivity period with Sprint ends. Though the current Pre is a CDMA device, Palm has admitted that a UMTS version is in development.
Shares of Sprint were down 2 percent after the comments from McAdam, as the device is expected to be a major player in Sprint's turnaround efforts. The company's exclusivity period is expected to expire at the end of 2009.
Source: Reuters
