Working with Vodafone and Microsoft, Palm says a new 3G-ready Treo
smartphone is headed to the European market before the end of the year.
Palm said it will partner with Britain’s Vodafone and Microsoft to
create a 3G Treo using Windows Mobile 5.0 to target European mobile
e-mail users.
Besides operating on Vodafone’s high-speed 3G network, the devices
will provide push e-mail service using Microsoft’s Direct Push
technology.
The Vodafone partnership “is a significant step to accelerate our
geographic expansion and serve more European customers,” John
Hartnett, Palm’s senior vice president of worldwide sales and
customer relations, said in a statement.
Although the companies provided few details, such as product name or
specifications, they did say they would deliver the new phone first to European customers in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
In June, Palm said it would halt European sales of the Palm 650
smartphone, its only European phone. Palm’s CEO Ed Colligan said at
the time the company hoped to introduce a replacement by the end of
the year.
While a Palm spokesperson quibbled with whether the new Treo replaces
or simply follows the Treo 650, the company denied the new device is
a reaction from pressure from Motorola’s Q smartphone in May.
The Treo may
need to change its 700w, the Windows Mobile-based Treo alternative,
to counter the Q.