Palm today announced that the Palm Pre, the first phone based on the new Palm webOS mobile platform, will debut in Canada exclusively on Bell Mobility’s 3G mobile network in the second half of 2009.
Bell Mobility is only the second carrier globally to announce the Palm Pre. In the United States, Sprint Nextel will be launching the device either this month or next.
Bell Mobility currently features the Palm Treo Pro and the Palm Centro.
The impending release of the Pre in the United States has generated a lot of rumors lately. Hype surrounding the Pre is billing the new touchscreen smartphone as an iPhone killer.
In a release today, Brodie Keast, senior vice president of marketing for Palm, said distribution won’t end with Canada and the United States.
“We’ve seen enormous interest from mobile operators worldwide and fully expect to continue to expand distribution for Pre, putting it within reach of more and more customers,” Keast said.
Maynard Um, analyst at UBS Financial Services, said Palm’s move to launch in Canada could help sentiment.
“The announcement of Bell Mobility is likely to help sentiment on two fronts. First, it may give more comfort that webOS is commercially viable and second, that other potential carrier announcements could be forthcoming,” Um said.
In early morning trading, shares of Palm were down a fraction of a point, to $11.37.
Um said UBS would remain neutral on Palm, but raised their price target to $12 from $11.