Rumor: webOS is T-Mobile Bound 67
by Robert Werlinger Thu, 18 Feb 2010 4:46 pm EST
The sleuths over at the Boy Genius Report have been tipped by one of their “solid Palm connects” that T-Mobile is in the final stages of planning the launch of a "Pixi-like device" with Palm, a move that would have the Sunnyvale, CA based handset maker distributing webOS devices on all four of the major domestic carriers before years end.
The details are sparse (read: non-existent), but if it’s true, it’ll be the first time a Palm device has been sold through T-Mobile in like… forever?
Thanks to everybody that sent this in!
67 Comments
Agreed.
Bad news...Only because i feel like T-Mobile has a bad rep for the crappy service and who the heck wants to sell them devices anyhow..
apparently google does with the nexus one, but we know how that's going
This is great! The Palm Pre smartphone at T-Mobile enables their customers to have a great choice. The Palm Pre and Palm Pixi phones with webOS will now allow T-Mobile to have a high-end smartphone that comes with a fun, sophisticated, and easy-to-use user interface.
don't know about that. T-Mobile has a pretty good rep for exceptional customer service. They have a bad rep for bad signal though.
2009 artictle JD power award
http://www.t-mobile.com/company/PressReleases_Article.aspx?assetName=Prs...
2008 article T-Mobile USA Ranks Highest in Wireless Retail Customer Satisfaction
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2008_May_8/ai_n25399028/
"T-Mobile received the highest ranking in the Wireless Customer Care Performance Study"
2007 Survey: T-Mobile Tops in Customer Satisfaction
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/04/jdpower_wireless.html
i only offer this as scant evidence (there may be more that say the opposite) that T-mobile actually has decent customer satisfaction. It's their signal strength that's at issue. I actually had them in DC, NYC, San Francisco, and LA and must say, i was very happy. But stay in big cities where they are strongest.
i'd say this. i'd go back to t'mobile in a heartbeat. They were pretty stunning with me customer service wise. Truly no questions asked and no hassles when i needed a change.
Well they have to compensate somehow. If you don't got the service to back you up, you need good customer skills to keep the client. Whats the point of having a phone when you can't use it. When I had TMobile the service was horrible, and my sister and brother-in-law has the same issue. I been with sprint and they moved to Verizon.
There are many customers who are pleased with T-Mobile. This is great news for those customers. I am happy for them to also share in the joy of owning this awesome smartphone.
the more carriers the better for the platform. Not to mention. Tmobile has had a history of mediocre phones so for them this is a good thing. Not sure how good a Pixi will do but a pre probably would attract attention.
How about a "Pixi Minus" for those people not tech-savy enough to know when they're buying a crap phone simply because it's cute and shiny.
c40 maybe?
Diversity is the name of the game, diverse and multiply.
And "Diversity" in this market is most certainly a numbers game.
Diversity is an old old wooden ship used in the Civil War era...
LOL. I don't think T-Mobile is concerned about a Civil War ship Ron...
Since when do we believe anything BGR has to say about Palm.
I cant see how this is a negative... More Carriers = Larger webOS base = Better apps for all of us
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Let me put it this way, what makes our phone great? All the options, functions, and speed of the device correct? Now what happens when you put it on a bad carrier with crap service, and limitations?? Clients who use the service hate the phone for the wrong reason, giving it bad rep. Period.
And? If all they know is bad service, why would they blame the phone.
Pick your carrier, then pick your device. TMO isn't known for having the sharpest tools in the shed for customers, the device is gonna seem like a generation ahead of G1 and their odd assortment of blackberries.
Couldn't agree more. How can people say anything negative about this? T-Mobile's a crappy service so this is just a waste? SO WHAT? If people choose T-Mobile as their service, THATS THEIR PROBLEM! The Same goes for any service, as everyone's opinion about any carrier is Their opinion, and subjective.
What's said above is Fact - this is only making the devices available to a wider audience, and that means more customers and a bigger user pool for Palm and developers. It'll be a plus even if they put the phones on Boost and Virgin - The more the merrier! PALM FTW!
Interesting. I thought Palm's relationship with T-Mobile fell apart a while ago. If, and that's a big if, this is true, this is great news.
More carriers=Good thing. Period.
Oh Great! Palm heading for the crappiest carrier in the US. There CS is fine but lets face it, the network sucks. More of a bad reputation for the Pre. Not a good idea. Go to AT&T and be done with it. Then give us poor Sprinters a upgrade.
yea I dnt see how this can b bad news. Sure t-mobile is whack but not everone can afford at&t or verizon, besides the service is gettin better. More carriers the better..great news if true!!
yea I dnt see how this can b bad news. Sure t-mobile is whack but not everone can afford at&t or verizon, besides the service is gettin better. More carriers the better..great news if true!!
Sweet. Another carrier to slow down our webos updates.
+1
beats dealing with the Android updates though.
Rofl! I love it!
Are you sure it works that way?
yes, every carrier has to approve the OS update to ensure they meet their standards.
I'm not completely clear about the update process, even though a read a headline that did break it down - Palm should pick a day when they are ready to release the update, each carrier should examine and approve the update, then immediatly make it available to their customers. There shouldnt be a delay at all.
This is awesome news. Hopefully Cathy zeta jones does a commercial with it. lol. id still give it to her every which way and then some.
yeah this is good. spread the webOS love. man if only HTC made a webOS phone it would be so sweet.
Hey, at least T-mobile has some good commercials like the one with the Phil whatshisname from the lakers, Whoopi Goldberg, Avril Lavigne and Eric Clapton.
I'm with the people worried about the updates....
Think about it this way though update wise.. more carriers = more phones sold = more money = more testers/developers = faster release times
this model is possible.
Testing isn't the issue. It's the time to develop the software and have others test it (when they feel like it). Verizon obviously has the Droid as its priority.
Well more carriers the better me thinks.
My little brother is locked into Tmobile with a family plan. His dad won't switch. Period.
If WebOS went to TMobile, I am sure there are those who'd pick up the devices.
nb
I hate t-mobile :-(
....where is the 1.4 update :-( ??
yea I dnt see how this can b bad news. Sure t-mobile is whack but not everone can afford at&t or verizon, besides the service is gettin better. More carriers the better..great news if true!!
I have a friend who works at T-Mo. I asked him about 2 weeks ago if they had any webOS incoming and he said nope.
I call shenanigans on this.
Someone wants to get pistol whipped...
Wow... So a person who works for T-Mobile says no WebOS. It must be true, considering every employee at T-Mobile knows all of the secrets going on behind closed doors.
Wow, so instead of trusting someone who knows someone working there, that you wrongly ASSUME is just a customer rep, you are going to take the word of the 'journalists' that last week claimed Palm was stopping production of the Pre? Without bothering to check with Palm???
Never once did I say that he was a sales rep. Now who is wrongly assuming.
Perhaps you misread, or just like to make assumptions? What I said was that not every employee has knowledge of what goes on behind closed doors.
The original commenter has said he is a tester, and therefore proving my point. Since he isn't an executive, it is unlikely he would know of a top secret deal between Palm and T-Mo.
Don't assume before you post. Oh, and by the way, I waited for Palm's confirmation on the subject and I had reason to believe it was for good reason, regarding your comment about the Pre's production halt. Again making assumptions.
I mentioned this in another reply, but my friend works at the Corporate office. His department is the type that is familiar with future product offerings.
He knew I was looking for a new phone (switching from and iPhone) and I told him I really liked webOS. As a follow up I asked him if T-Mo was picking up any new webOS devices, and his response was "you're stuck with Sprint or Verizon."
Now, he could have been shining me on, but he's usually pretty candid, and if a device was coming he would at least have told me to wait a little while before making a purchase.
Feel free to believe me or not, but as others have posted, BGR provided no more substantiation than I did.
Your friend is also probably a store rep and wouldn't be privy to company secrets
He works at the corporate office in a testing capacity. Feel free not to believe me :)
Good Job Palm, if your devices are selling with the top 4 service providers in the US that's a statement
And let me express how good and bad this can be..
PROS:
Another carrier to bug test the WebOS updates
More users
CONS:
3G issues
Specific 3G bands, requiring devices to use a SPECIAL 3G chip and making it T-Mobile only
Another carrier to slow down the updates
Not a 3G unlocked phone (can be unlocked, but 3G won't work anywhere other than T-Mobile)
Faces extreme competition from a MAJOR android carrier (you think Verizon's pushing of the Droid is bad, T-Mobile is mainly Android)
Verizon is pushing a lot of different phones.
PROS:
Verizon is now starting to push the Palm Pre and Pixi heavily as their top family friendly, fun and easy-to-use consumer smartphone.
Palm is releasing a major update this month - webOS 1.4; and will be releasing a major update of webOS (next month - March 2010) in Europe.
CONS:
None. (Note: Except you are from the competition)
ok I really hope this happens after the 1.4 update because the pre goin to verizon stalled our 1.4 update. Better yet I hope this doesn't happen for the sake of future updates. That means that's just one more carrier to go through and look at and mess around with updates. Which means more stalling!!
Clearly you didn't bother to read the article. This is rumored to happen BY THE END OF 2010, not in the next two weeks.
Are you sure this isn't the same timeline for 1.4? It is starting to feel that way!
@Willmays87 - You really don't know what you are talking about.
it seems like everyone under 25 has T Mobile. The best way to be revelent is to have some youth backing your stuff..
That's what we need more kids blaming apps are to expensive and not allowing dev's and palm to make money. Yea that's real good for Palm and our devices...Just another reason to prove my point from earlier. (Nothing against your post here)
More Carriers = Good
Bad Service = Bad
its good people what is wrong with peoples minds, sometimes i question that. Its all buisness nothing more. The more carriers with Web OS the better market share, and the more people get to experiance this OS. Who care how good tmobile is, isnt the pre and pixi out for sprint, verizon, and soon At&t? It will give Palm a chance to keep up with Android, since they pretty much release all their phones on Tmobile, this way customers really have to weigh there options, with a Web os device in the mix. Good Idea Palm, and be patient Id rather have 1.4 when its fully ready, not half ass.
t-mobile has bad service and bad signal that's why i went to sprint... i wish we would get a new palm phone
Tmobile had great service and good signal where i was (San Fran) and bad phones. That's only reason i got a pre. But i loved T-mobile.
come on verizon move your ass
and stop holding the update for everyone
verizon sucks
I seem to remember Sprint getting updates before everyone else (often weeks before). Do you have any facts Verizon is delaying this?
This is the first US carrier (other then Sprint) that has the palm webos. Updates get sent to all carriers within the same country at the same time, No? If this is true then yes, verizon could be delaying the update.
My experience with T-Mobile is very good. I travel the continental US, and have never had signal strength issues. Great Customer Service. Competitive pricing.
The only thing they ever did that I disagreed with was stop supporting Palm smartphones.
If this is true, I will be one VERY happy camper.
:)
This is consistent with what a friend of mine (who happens to work for Palm) told me a couple of weeks back.
They are on AT&T and told me that they will be getting a webOS phone soon.
I stated that left T-Mobile as the holdout and they told me Palm had negotiations with all four major U.S. carriers.
Good news for everyone!