Palm Pre Vs Apple’s iPhone: Next Gen Smartphone War

Palm, pioneer in PDA and smart phone market made no noise when Apple launched its iPhone two years back.  With the announcement of Palm Pre in CES 2009 it could be anticipated that Palm is all set to recover its lost ground. Palm has decided to schedule Palm Pre’s release on June 6, that is just two days before the start of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco where the company will release the next generation iPhone. The new Palm Pre touch screen smart phone, priced at $200 comes slide-out QWERTY keyboard, GPS, 2.0 MP camera, 8GB internal memory, gesture area, application store and more.

Plam’s new release sets the stage for a potential war between the Silicon Valley innovators. This could either a Plam’s return to the smartphone market or a spell its demise. According to analyst Jack Gold of J. Gold Associates, Palm is facing a must win situation. If Pre fails to make a mark they may have no second chance.

Reviews

There are rave reviews on Pre and its WebOS operating system that took several years in making. Pre’s WebOS also received kudos for its ability to multitask and integrate Web information from various sources. This will allows the users to combine contacts, calenders and messages. As J. Gerry Purdy, chief analyst for mobile and wireless at Frost & Sullivan Palm explains, Palm Pre incorporates the best of its competitors and surged ahead. He added, if the giant mobile maker has lots of people and developers to agree and buy it and develop for it, Palm’s new mobile phone will be a viable competitor.

The chief technology officer for Internet radio provider Pandora, Tom Conrad is building an app for the Pre. He appreciates Pre for being the first post-iPhone example that gets the formula right. The hardware is quite compelling and feels great. It has a great operating system with fantastic user experience.

Challenges

Palm faces competition from Apple’s iPhone and BlackBerry Storm. According to a survey by Changewave in March, among the potential buyers of iPhone 4 percent plan to buy Pre, 37 percent would buy BlackBerry and 30 percent to buy BlackBerry and 30 percent would be purchasing an iPhone. Palm is selling Pre exclusively with Spirit, that is trying to overcome negative perception about Palm’s customer service and network reliability.

Sprint’s Kevin Packingham, senior vice president for product and technology development Pre and Spirit have exanded their offerings in the
last two years and expects Pre to demonstrate their turnarounds.

He said

The phone tests the mettle of the manufacturer and wireless provider. You have to have a high level of confidence to go big for a device like this,

Palm Pre: Features

Pre is designed for web-centric users  who are engaged in using the social network. Pre also allows multiple sign ons and multitasks. There are no better device on the market than the Palm Pre. Other features include integration of e-mail and social networking accounts, combined calendar and messaging, universal search.

Let’s have a look at the specifications of the two most sophisticated smartphones

Palm Pre

(on sale June 6)

Weight: 4.76 ounces

Size: 3.9 by 2.3 by 0.67 inches

Screen: 3.1-inch 480 by 320 with multi-touch

Connectivity: 3G EVDO-Rev A (Sprint), Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth

Other: Webkit browser, slide out QWERTY keyboard, .3.0 mp camera, GPS, accelerometer, application store

Price: $199.99 with two-year contract and after $100 rebate

Apple iPhone 3G

(expected to be released this summer, probably on July)

Weight: 4.7 ounces

Size: 4.5 by 2.4 by 0.48 inches

Screen: 3.5-inch 480 by 320 with multi-touch

Connectivity: 3G HSDPA (AT&T), Wi-Fi, stereo Bluetooth

Other: Webkit browser, virtual keyboard, 3.0 mp camera with LED flash, GPS, accelerometer, application store

Price: $199 (8 GB) and $299 (16 GB) with two-year contract

iPhone Going Steady

Apple’s spokeswomen, Natalie Kerris made no comments about the changes in the iPhone hardware, however, she confirmed that the company was well positioned.

Since its launch Apple has sold more than 21 million iPhones and the sales doubled in the last quarter. Apple’s iPhone is expected to receive major new software update this summer, iPhone OS 3.0 will be embellished with more than 100 new features. What’s more, Apple has the advantage of iPhone’s App Store thriving with more than 35,000 apps that has made iPhone the top choice. Palm Pre would offer a App Catalogue but it needs to convince developers and Palm OS programmers to build for its new WebOS platform. This is a major task as the iPhone has gained momentum.

Palm has made it easier for the developers to write for Palm OS using popular Web languages such as CSS, HTML and XML that are familiar with most web programmer. The company says an emulator program would be available for the Pre that would allow the users to run the old Palm software from other devices.

Clearly, Palm Pre is on a collision course with iPhone, the reigning king of the touchscreen smart phone world. Although, iPhone’s supremacy might not be challenged immediately, Pre offers a challenge that other devices haven’t been able to do.

We will be looking forward to it and update you with latest updates and thorough analysis about the two whenever possible.