Palm to launch new smart phone without US carrier, will sell unlocked

Palm Inc. announced Wednesday it will sell a new smart phone aimed at business users this fall, but it won't have the backing of a U.S. carrier.

The Treo Pro, a slimmer, redesigned phone similar in features to the Treo 800w Palm sells through Sprint Nextel Corp., will be carried in Europe by Vodafone Group PLC and O2 and in Australia by Telstra.

In the U.S., Palm will sell for $549 an unlocked version that's usable on AT&T Inc.'s cellular broadband network.

"When it comes to the unlocked version, we have seen some significant interest from large enterprise customers," said Brodie Keast, Palm's senior vice president of marketing. With an unlocked phone, users can avoid costly international roaming fees by switching to a local carrier when traveling, and the phones don't need to come with the carrier's applications pre-installed.

Still, carrier arrangements are important for cell phone marketing, since carriers subsidize the phones. Keast did not rule out the Treo Pro coming to a U.S. carrier eventually. AT&T Inc., the only likely carrier, is likely focusing on the impending launch of a high-end BlackBerry from Research In Motion Ltd., which aims at the same market as the Treo Pro.

Like the Treo 800w, the Treo Pro runs the latest version of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Mobile software, and has built-in Wi-Fi and GPS capabilities.

Source: AP News