Palm Pre now $79 in WalMart; free in UK
Walmart is undercutting Amazon by offering the Palm Pre for just $79.99. But even that’s more expensive than in Europe where a network is offering the handset free of charge with a service plan.
As we reported last week, the Pre has been on a serious price-slide. Sprint cut its list price from $199.99 to $149.99 in preparation for marketing its successor, the Pixi. Amazon then began offering the handset for an up-front price of $99.99 with no need for rebates.
Now Walmart is offering the handset for $79.99 with the same range of five plans. However, the deal also allows users to sign up to the family edition of the Simply Everything plan which has the same price and benefits, except that call allowances can be shared. The only drawback of the Walmart deal is that buyers have to hand over $179.99 and then apply for a $100 rebate. As usual, there doesn’t seem any logical reason whatsoever to run things this way except for firms taking a cynical view that at least some rebate claims will get screwed up and save them the cash.
Even though it’s questionable whether Verizon will pick up the device and potentially increase competition, it probably shouldn’t be surprising to see the price continue to fall. Given that even the cheapest eligible plan is $69.99 a month, it’s worth Sprint’s while to offer heavy subsidies to retailers.
Once the Pixi is established, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Pre offered free of charge, if only on the more expensive plans. That’s already happened in the U.K. and Ireland where the 02 network is launching the handset next month. Buyers will have the choice of paying around $160 for the handset on the cheapest service deals, or getting it free with a more expensive contract.
The 02 deal may well be a response to the news – announced on the same day – that it has lost its UK exclusivity for the iPhone, which will now also be carried on the Orange network, presumably on a cheaper monthly contract.
02 is also offering the Pre in Germany for an up-front purchase price of one euro. However, that’s slightly misleading as the buyers then pay 20 euros a month towards the handset cost — on top of their service fees — for two years, effectively pricing the phone at 481 euros.
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