Palm Pre vs. iPhone 3G: Contender or Pretender?

NetworkWorld says…

Palm’s webOS lives up to hype, early developers say

This is good news for Palm since the company’s survival depends on the Pre being a big success. NetworkWorld provides a 10-slide (only 7 or so of the slides actually have info, btw) feature comparison. Here’s a couple that I found interesting and/or amusing…

- AT&T (iPhone) & Sprint (Pre) are consistently rated low in J.D. Powers research
- Palm Pre will support Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync as the iPhone (and Windows Mobile) does. I wonder if Google Calendar’s Exchange ActiveSync will work with the Pre?
- Palm Pre physical QWERTY thumb keyboard vs. iPhone virtual on-screen keyboard. NetworkWorld calls it for the Pre even though most of us have not been able to try it yet. I agree with this call because Palm has a good thumb keyboard track record with the Treo smartphones.

Here’s something I’ll add the mix: Apple Store experience vs. Sprint store experience. I’ve been to both recently to buy phones. And, well, let’s say the Apple Store experience was less painful. Sprint needs to make buying a Palm Pre not just painless, it has to be such a good experience that Pre owners will tell non-Pre owners how great going in to buy a Pre was. Can Sprint pull this off? We’ll see…

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