HP to offer unlocked Palm Pre 2 to small business

From InfoWorld: Hewlett-Packard plans to sell the unlocked version of its Palm Pre 2 to small businesses as well as to mobile application developers.

The company disclosed plans for an unlocked Pre 2 for developers when it announced the phone on Oct. 19. Though the primary audience for the unlocked device will be developers of apps for the new WebOS 2.0 operating system, HP will also sell the Pre 2 through its small-business channel, according to spokeswoman Leslie Letts.

HP introduced the Pre 2 through French mobile operator SFR last month and said it would go on sale at Verizon Wireless and a Canadian carrier in the coming months. HP also said it would sell the handset directly to WebOS developers, with qualified developers getting a significant discount. The unlocked phone will work on UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) networks, the 3G variant of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), used by AT&T and T-Mobile USA in the U.S.

In a YouTube video posted last week by Markguim.tv, HP Palm product manager Tim Pettitt said the company would offer an unlocked Pre 2 so that "if you're a GSM user that wants to have the device but don't want to have a carrier contract, then you can just buy it directly from HP.com."

The Pre 2 is the first major Palm product to come out since HP bought Palm earlier this year. It comes with a moderate hardware upgrade, with a 1GHz processor, 5-megapixel camera and other features, but more importantly runs the next-generation WebOS 2.0 operating system. Among other improvements, the new OS will be compatible with Adobe Flash 10.1 and QuickOffice Connect and will allow users to perform tasks immediately by typing on the physical keyboard.

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