Palm Pre Phones On The Way, Sporting Final ROMS? (Updated)
According to our pals at everythingpre, UPS has begun the work of sending the Pre overseas from China to the US. We checked in with our own UPS ninjas (they wear brown shorts instead of black masks, turns out) and indeed, we can confirm that is the case. Unfortunately, this doesn't give us much of a clue as to when the device will come out -- it's not clear how long they will take to get here, what needs to happen to them when they do, how they'll get distributed to stores, et cetera, et cetera.
On the bright side, it does sound like these shipping Pre Phones are indeed of shipping quality -- they have the final firmware on them and do not need to be re-flashed. Re-flashing to final ROM is a job that UPS Logistics has handled in the past for some phone companies and, we've been told, was a job they had been on-deck to do for the Pre before a last-minute change of heart at Palm.
What's left before they can hit the stores? Plenty, we're sure, including a "Source Audit." That "Source Audit" will involve, at least in part, UPS laying the plans to make sure they don't just send the things out willy-nilly, but instead send them out just to the right places and at just the right times (shades of the iPhone's organized deliveries here). Update: Not quite: more information on this as we get it. Update: The "Source Audit" is a final round of Sprint testing on the ROMs on these devices.
Oh, and one more thing needs to happen then: Palm getting their ducks in a row and deciding on a firm, announced release date. We're waiting, just like Molls and Palm Pre Protest Guy are.
Thanks to everythingpre and our anonymous tipster!
