Talkin' Pre -- Week ending 17 October 4

Cloudy weather, Pre lands in Europe, cavalcade of apps and drunkin' Pre are are just a few of the tops folks have been talkin' and tweetin' about this week...

Cloudy weather... It's been a rough week for Sidekick users and Microsoft who ended up being forced to 'splain itself  regarding the case of the missing data. Our own Derek had a post that put this event in perspective for Palm Pre owners.

More Pre after the break!

Smartphone Wars: Reviews for competing smartphones started hitting. This article is a good summary. Over at BusinessWeek, the question raised is whether the Motorola CLIQ will sell as well as the Palm Pre. The numbers being tossed around are between 25,000 to 30,000 units of the CLIQ handset per week.

"If these production runs prove to be true, that means that Motorola expects the Cliq to sell as well as Palm Pre, which became available from Sprint Nextel in June of 2009."

Of course, if you haven't, you'll want to check out Kevin's massive BlackBerry Storm2 Review over at CrackBerry.com

Palm Pre Mobile Lands in Europe:  There was a lot of news from across the pond. The Financial Times had an interesting story titled "Palm to join ranks of upwardly mobile," where Andrew Parker captured some thoughts from Palm's CEO,  Jon Rubinstein who said the company would secure a place alongside Apple, the iPhone manufacturer, and Research In Motion, maker of the Blackberry.  Addressing takeover rumors, he said, “There is room for three to five successful companies. Customers want choice, [mobile phone operators] want choice, and there is a lot of opportunity – so I think we can build a really successful company, and we do not need to be rolled up into someone else.”

Pre in the UK:  Here's the link to the Palm Blog post, aptly named "London Calling."  This will link you to a video of the O2 Palm Pre UK launch party. 

Here are a few more interesting stories that appeared in the UK:

• Palm Pre: Top 10 apps by Ben Sillis
• Palm Pre review by David Phelan
• Unboxing video

Pre in Spain:  The Palm Blog post, "Spain Goes Gaga Over Palm Pre," does a nice job of capturing the launch event. You can check out pictures on the Palm Facebook page.

Pre in Germany:  IT ProPortal did a story about the Pre's debut in Germany.  And if you haven't seen it yet, check out Dieter's interesting post (O2 Germany Sells Pre to More Interesting People, More Interestingly) that includes an interesting video. Some other fun posts include two from Simply Palm Pre.  One was on the non-tech reasons to buy a Pre.  Here are a few examples:

• #3. Black is back
• #2. It's just not Apple man ("Stop, think, be different and get yourself a Palm Pre.")

And the other one is hilarious... about waiting for the Pre...
 

Some Pre Reviews:  With more Palm Pre mobiles landing here and abroad, reviews continue to flow.  Here's one from a self-described iPhone snob -- iPhone snob reviews the Palm Pre by Jeff Haywood | The Grand Rapids Press.

"The Pre is an attractive device to anyone who wants an iPhone-like experience with a physical keyboard, but the quick battery drain is a concern...
...Once my contract with AT&T is up in a year, I would take another look at what applications are available on the Pre and if iTunes synching is still working... While I liked the multitasking of the webOS, I think the average smartphone user would prefer the simplicity of the iPhone."

Cavalcade of Apps: If you've been a regular reader of PreCentral, then you've probably noticed that the addition of apps to Palm's catalog has become a daily news item.  Here's a link to Friday's post by Derek.  And another member of our team, Robert, pointed out on Wednesday that "over 125 applications that have been downloaded almost 8 million times since the first webOS device, the Palm Pre phone, shipped just three months ago."

Facebook Contest:  Enter to win a Palm Pre or Pixi, the choice is yours: Pre or Pixi.

Got a Pre, Get the Book: Engadget Mobile lead Chris Ziegler's "Palm Pre for Dummies" is now available.  Listed at Buy new: $24.99, Amazon is showing it at $16.49.

That's a wrap!

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