O2 "wins battle for Palm Pre"

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 25 May 2009 at 09:31

O2 has reportedly won the exclusive contract to distribute the Palm Pre in the UK.

Click here to see our exclusive video of the Palm Pre in action

The network fought off competition from rivals Vodafone and Orange, according to a report in The Guardian. O2 was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

If confirmed, it will mean that O2 now has exclusive contracts for two of the most desirable handsets on the market: the iPhone and the Palm Pre.

However, there are rumours that O2 will lose exclusive rights to the iPhone with the launch of the third-generation handset this summer, which might explain why the network has moved in on the Palm Pre.

There's no word on an official launch date or price for the Palm Pre in the UK. Last week Palm announced the Pre would go on sale on 6 June in the US, priced at $200 (£126) on a two-year contract with carrier Sprint.

That date is only two days before the start of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, at which the company is widely expected to launch the third-generation iPhone.