Verizon Palm Treo Pro? Yup. Sort of.

WTH?

While peculiar to release at this time, hindsight shows that Verizon, and Palm, really missed a great opportunity to sell on a wide-scale basis a really solid WM and Palm device. I bought an unlocked Treo Pro from Palm and only recently moved on because I wanted a larger screen (choosing the Tilt2). But, I do miss the compact size.

It probably sorta makes sense if one takes the big picture. Palm has officially stated they will no longer support Windows Mobile and instead focus on webOS. Verizon always takes a long time in certification with new phones. My gut feel is that they looked at the Pro early last year, then decided to start working on it since Sprint had it and middle of the road everyone bailed out of the project given the potential lack of support.

The poor Treo Pro has nowhere to go. Or maybe just is carving a niche these days as the cheapest GSM WM6.1 unlocked phone one can get...

To bad it never had a chance to shine. This is a better device than the Samsung Saga that the still sell by the way, and a step up from the Ozone since it is a Windows Mobile Pro device. If they upgraded it to WM 6.5 they could still have potential buyers out there. I could make sense since they are dropping the Pre and Pixi very soon.

ya, this is kinda pointless....

+ why would you want to have this sweet world phone, on a CDMA locked down network?

Actually this phone was and remains available at verizon, but is only sold through business sales

Malatesta,

It would be instructive to understand the real reasons that Verizon never released this phone. At the time this came out (and even before with the Treo 800) I was eager to update my Treo 700W with a new Palm phone running Windows Mobile. There never was an official statement from Verizon, either for or against, that they would release the Treo 800 or the Treo Pro. After waiting forever, it became obvious that it wasn't going to happen. Do your VZW sources indicate reasons for non-release?

To release this phone on the down low now is ridiculous -- technology has passed this phone by. It is yet another reason that the FCC should tell the service providers to get out of the business of telling consumers which phones they can and cannot buy. That should be a decision strictly between hardware vendors and customers. I do not want Verizon in that loop!

Man... I never should have sold my Nap.

I'd much rather use 90s technology than use a computer without a keyboard.

Touchscreens are for toys. I'd rather use a keyboard-only computer like a Nokia E90 or E71 than some touchscreen-only toy like the iPhone or HD2.