The Palm Pre launched yesterday and is certainly the phone that has been most compared to the iPhone. It has a touch screen, physical keyboard, WebOS, and other goodies that have allowed it to be one of the first phones people thought might have a chance against the iPhone. While I’m sure there was a fair amount of people who bought it and love it (and let me just say I personally have not used one yet), but I don’t think Apple has to worry for a variety of reasons.
To begin, the iPhone already has millions of happy users on AT&T, a GSM carrier. The fact that the iPhone is GSM, then, means it can be used on many more carriers than a CDMA phone such as the Pre. This alone allows the iPhone to be sold worldwide and gain even more market share than is possible for the Pre. Yes, I’m sure Palm may eventually bring the Pre to other carriers or even CDMA, but by that time it may be too late as Apple will most likely release a new and improved iPhone at this year’s WWDC. While I respect the Pre for being the first phone in a while to actually offer some competition, I just don’t think it’s enough. The image below created by Peter Yan is further proof.
While I don’t see the iPhone going away anytime soon, it is interesting to see some of the things Palm has done with the Pre. It is well known that a group of people who originally worked on the iPhone at Apple were the ones who created the Pre. For that reason, it should come as no surprise that the innards of the Palm Pre are actually pretty similar to that of the iPhone. The image below from the teardown that took place at iFixIt is proof of this. According to AppleInsider, “Both have separate processor and communication logic boards, and both are so tightly packed that they resort to glue and soldering to keep parts together in lieu of screws and other removable connectors. Repairing the very deepest components is expected to be very difficult, if not impossible.” However, the article also notes that the Pre has a smaller processor than the iPhone, as well as a removable back.
However, there is one really neat thing that Palm did with the Pre that Apple often does with their operating systems and the Apple TV. Palm took the time to create a rather awesome introduction video to play for the user when they first turn on the phone. Apple’s iPhone doesn’t currently do this, but it will be interesting to see if they eventually add something like this. The one created by Palm looks very well thought out.
Another interesting story to come out of this launch is the fact that the Palm Pre syncs with iTunes. I personally do not think Apple will allow this very long, and that we will see it being broken in the next iTunes update. That said, it is certainly interesting to see that Palm had the nerve to include that with their phone for the time being as it is almost a direct blow at Apple and the iPhone. It will definitely be interesting to see how this all unfolds.
Actually, I believe that the ability to sync with iTunes had to be negotiated with Apple beforehand, and will in all likelihood remain unchanged.