Been waiting with bated breath for HP to announce some U.S. Pre 3 launch details besides the vague "summer" window that we've been hearing since February? Well, you're not getting anything today, but that could change soon! HP recently put the unlocked Pre 3 up for sale for our friends over in Europe, and in its announcement confirming the new webOS overseas handset's availability, the company said that it plans to share more info on the Pre 3's U.S. launch "soon." The full statement from HP is as follows:
"HP is excited to begin its regional rollout of Pre3, the only phone today that offers users a slide-out keyboard coupled with a large touchscreen and the fastest speed (1.4GHz processor – the fastest on the market). We expect to share additional information for U.S. customers soon."
Things in webOS Land may not all be exciting, though, as a report from AllThingsD claims that the TouchPad is experiencing slow sales at Best Buy. According to the site's "sources familiar with the matter," Best Buy took 270,000 TouchPads from HP but has only sold 25,000 of them. Best Buy reportedly doesn't want to pay HP for all of the TouchPads that are sitting in its stores and is trying to get HP to take them back. Meanwhile, HP is asking Best Buy to be patient and may be sending one of its top executives to discuss the issue with Best Buy brass.
It's good to see that HP may finally be getting around to launching the Pre 3 here in the U.S. considering that it was announced way back in February, but one has to wonder how big of an effect the delay between Pre 3 announce and launch is going to have on sales. As far as when the launch might go actually go down, we're waiting for the rumor mill to spit out a possible date for the Pre 3 after the device missed its alleged July release and didn't appear on a recent Verizon roadmap. Here's to hoping that when the flagship webOS handset does finally arrive, HP and the carriers can price it aggressively to help drum up interest.
Via PreCentral, AllThingsD
