Palm Pre UK Launches Tomorrow: Get There Early for a Free Touchstone 35
OK UK folks, time to start lining up at your local O2 stores for the Palm Pre launch tomorrow. We've had the celebrity launch party, a study showing that there's huge interest in the phone, and even the obligatory pre-launch official website jitters. Speaking of obligatory, Novaldex sends in the above BBC interview with Palm CEO John Rubinstein and O2's Matthew Key - nothing new there, but it does set the stage for Palm's most important week since the Pre launched in the US.
Today, we have received tips from multiple readers that O2 employees are taking to the streets outside their stores, hawking the Palm Pre like carnival barkers of old. Better: they're handing out flyers which promise a free Touchstone to the first 10 people who line up at each store.
Update: It will be worth your time to call ahead before you line up. Dan just let us know that his local store knew nothing about any gosh darn free Touchstones.
What time are you lining up, then?
35 Comments
Sorry, accident.
we didnt get a free touchstone. =[
I'm ambivalent at the moment. I will probably wander down before opening to see if it is busy but if it is I am in no rush. While I would love a Pre tomorrow I can wait a few weeks until we get webOS parity.
Given I live in a little hamlet and the o2 store is 15 minutes away, I'll quite happily get there at 8am for a free Touchstone...
lol I think everybody forgot the Pre launched in Spain yesterday and along with UK tomorrow it is also launching in Ireland tomorrow. Are both Ireland and Spain irrelevant places? Just Curious you know.
I was 5th in line in the US at 6am and I didn't get nothing
I'm not queuing but I'll get there at 9am if it nets me a free Touchstone baby!!!
For you folks who want to get a free Touchstone, why are you waiting until 8 or 9am to show up? That doesn't sound like a good way to beat the rush.
Wheres my free touchstone. See how they do us. Been faithful to palm pre still got my first phone and was like the third person inline when it came out here. Well guess that what happens when you deal with sprint.
I am sure it wasn't just Sprint, but Amen
I dunno. We got to have it 4 and a half months before they did. Why be jealous that they got something for the wait?
west3man: Seriously - if there's anyone else in line at 8am, I'll eat my hat. This is Englandland - where we do things with a minimum of fuss. ;)
Is this really true? Just rang my local O2 store to find out what time they open tomorrow and asked them about this, but they said they hadn't heard anything about it. Sounds too good to be true - I can imagine a few flagship stores doing it maybe, but 10 free Touchstones at *every* store?
rang my local store and they didnt know anything about it either :(
dupe. Sorry.
My question is, why isn't somebody doing a make-over on Rubenstein?! Lose the "jacket & dress shirt with no tie" look: that says, I have a jacket, and a nice shirt, but I simply don't know how to tie that strip of cloth around my neck, and even I know that clip-ons are "right out"! We're geeks, nerds and gadget-heads: please wear your World of Warcraft tee shirt over some cargo pants, and for heaven's sake, a baseball cap with Call of Duty logo! Sheesh!
Oh,yeah, and I was number 14 at my Sprint store, and all I got was a Pre! And, they wouldn't let us use the bathroom inthe store becasue it was in the back and in a "high security" area.... I guess that was where they kept their doughnuts.
Just checked with my o2-working friend and he was nonplussed. Will probably get there early anyway...
Got mine last night at the O2 lauch event was very impressed with it and even more impressed since I been playing with it. Free champange and small bits of food plus a guy to set it up.
Oh yeah they gave out free touchstone with it to and top gear live tickets=] o2 rocks:P
Problem with the "launch" in Spain has been as usual in movistar..or Spain for that matter.
The workers in the shops knew about the system, they -some of them- had the training device but even with movistar saying on the press release it was going to be launch on October 14th, no Movistar shop at all knew for sure. So some places -very few- already had it, and some others say is this Friday when the device is entering the system so if I ask for it I could get it on Monday.
Complete stealth launch in here; albeit the HTC Hero launch was even worse in other carriers in Spain... suddenly it began appearing on the shops and weeks later they wanted to create awareness.
Yeah I got to my Sprint store late on opening day but got the 2nd to last Pre they had... I felt special but paid so much money on day one... like $340 with taxes and everything... And yeah no touchstone... :-(
But I love my Pre... best phone I ever had... upgraded from a STORM... yuck.. (worst phone I ever had)
Work in the comms sector and unfortunately I can tell you guys theres absolutely no need to get your camping gear for this launch. Theres very little buzz for the Pre in the UK right now, no enquires, no nothing. And on top of that Palm are using the same adverts that they used in the States for the UK, bad move!
i'm already lining up. It's 6:10AM and no one's here yet. FYI I'm in central London
I'm just getting ready to leave the house, which should get me to the o2 store by 8:30. *Horrible* day out today though!
I got there at 0830 for a 0900 store opening and tragically stood alone. I got my Pre and left with no-one else in sight. Not a good sign but I had expected it.
I did not expect a rush so headed out casually, got there for 9.25 for a 9.30 opening (I only live round the corner too). Waited with 2 other people while got all of the pre stuff out on display, which considering it is a small store, had 4 display phones all fully working. So I got mine pretty easy, no free touchstone though and they only had two in the store anyway. I think their promotion of the pre will really ramp up now, as I for the first time I saw a TV ad last night and now all of the in store promotion that was not there before. Possibly a very British thing not to promote until available, as you would just be turning people away before then. Expect low first day sales, expect high first month sales.
I've just become the first person in Scotland to own a Pre. The Princess Street Store in Edinburgh was quiet - but the staff were all kitted out in Pre tee shirts...and expected to sell out - but then they only had 15 in stock!
No free touchstone, apprently you need to be in london...
60. Sat in his pre teeshirt.
Long-time reader, but just registered.
I went to my local O2 shop at 9:10am to get one, but they had only been sent ONE (count 'em) model and to my dismay they had just sold it "to that gentleman there". Wish I'd queued now.
They told me they'd be getting another 4 in before the end of the morning and would call me when they had taken delivery.
I'm now sitting here looking at my old Centro, just willing it to ring........
First person in Loughborough to own a Pre! Somebody else was in to buy one, and I helped the guys flog him a touchstone. Build quality is excellent - dunno what people are on about. Doesn't half get warm while charging though!
PS LOVE IT TO BITS!
Glad to see people getting their shiny new pre devices. I was in Buxton and got to the store for 9am and first person there. All staff had the pre shirts on with the display table and lots of accesories available.
Store had 15 pre phones available and just as I was leaving the store another person was coming in to buy one.
No free touchstone mind but got one anyway.
Device is awesone so far and still trying to figure out all the options.....
I'm a UK user and I've been reading PreCentral for a while now, but just got my Pre this morning. We waited outside the main Aberdeen store from 8.30 or so since it opened at 9. They had a sign saying first 10 customers get a free Touchstone. There were about 4 or 5 people there when it opened and we all got one. It must have been certain stores.
It is pretty disappointing that the free Touchstone was only in certain stores particularly considering the contract I just signed up to. There were no freebies in Dundee and I was the first one (and only by the time I left) at the store. I could have easily been in Aberdeen this morning if I had known.
Well, went into Ipswich to see this, my iPhone is up for upgrade very soon.
Expected a bit of a buzz, but there was NOTHING going on in either shop. I played with the display model for about 20 mins, and NOT once did anyone ask me if I wanted any help or advice.
This is a brand new model for gods sake, what is wrong with shops these days?
So, the shops are crap, bit what about the Pre compared to my iPhone? Well, to be honest, the keyboard is very poor, I used to love Palm keyboards, but now am so used to the iPhone keyboard, this feels very poor indeed.
In the 20 mins I was in the shop, one other person looked at the Pre, and 2 people actually bought iPhones!
The one guy who looked at the Pre was trying to explain the Touchstone to his grandmother, who listened intently to his (very clear) explaination of how it worked, and had a think for a few seconds, then said "its very clever, but you have to pay extra just to charge it up".
It was quite funny really, the lad tried to explain you could charge it with a normal charger included in the box, but she was not getting it by now.
But come on Palm, FFS, you have to buy the Touchstone, and then pay again to change the back cover, that is plain stupid, what use is one without the other FFS, and at O2's crazy pricing, just include them with the damn thing if you want any chance of selling these things.
Not for me I am afraid. The OS does look great, but I think I am spoiled by the one piece solidness of the iPhone now, all 4 Pre models in this shop, and the 2 in the other shop all had huge wobble between the screen and keyboard, felt really nasty to me, and as this was shortly after opening and they were only put out today, this will only get worse.
Well, maybe the Pixi will be better....but wait, could you really tell your mates your brand new phone is called the Pixi........
Kev
I strolled into the O2 store on Oxford Street (London) at about 1:30pm today. There was a line of people, but there always is at that branch. I told the staff I wanted to get a Pre and then went through the usual lengthy process of credit check, filling out forms, etc. They offered to sell me accessories as I was buying it, but I refused. Then right at the end of the transaction they guy who was serving me said that the first 20 customers were getting a free Touchstone and proceeded to put one in the bag with my shiny new phone.
This all seemed like a total bonus to me as I wasn't aware of the offer. In any case I'm pretty surprised they hadn't sold 20 units by the early afternoon. Says a lot about the UK's appetite (or lack thereof) for the Pre.
I got my Pre in London on the launch day and 2 weeks on, am absolutely loving it. I didn't know about the freeTouchstone offer and didn't think I could upgrade on O2 for another couple of weeks, - just dropped in to play with the Pre, around 3pm. Was utterly thrilled to find that I could upgrade in store with no penalty and get a free Touchstone into the bargain... Plus the guy who served me really knew his stuff about the Pre; we had a really good chat and he insisted on giving me an introductory quick tour on one of the shop's demo models *after* I'd signed up... Great customer service!! But not having shifted the first 10 on Oxford Street (centre of London shopping) by 3:30 is a little worrying... The launch was very low key though - only in the mainstream press just beforehand and no mention of the free Touchstones.
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