Khaled rambles

Will the Palm Pre arrive to Saudi Arabia?

Published on February 25, 2009 by Khaled A. in General

In case you didn’t know, in CES 2009 Palm announced their latest phone, the Palm Pre. You can watch the Palm Pre announcement video presented by Jon Rubinstein, an Executive Chairman at Palm and former head of hardware engineering at Apple.

The US Palm Pre will be a CDMA phone, in other words it will not work in GSM countries. Palm didn’t announce any official GSM release. All they said is soon. And the only thing we have are pictures of a Vodafone SIM card in a Palm Pre. Keep an eye on this page for any updates.

If you think Apple’s presence in the middle east was bad then you haven’t seen Palm. They don’t have a middle east page, Palm never supported Arabic and their own dealer is a company in the UAE called ITE. Unless Palm sells the Palm Pre GSM unlocked I see no way for it to even arrive in Saudi Arabia.

Update: and now we have a launch date. As usual, CDMA (US) only for now.

Update (6 Dec 2009): According to this post on the Palm Pre forums, Palm’s response showed no interest in adding Arabic to the Palm Pre.

Tags: Cellphones, middle east, Palm pre

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24 Comments

http://none Julia

I’m not a techie person but I would really love to have a Palm Tre Pro Smartphone. So, there’s no way I can use that here in Saudi yea? If not, what alternatives would you recommend for a touchscreen phone with wifi? Thanks in advance.
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[Reply]
http://www.khaled.us Khaled A.

I would suggest an iPhone of course
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http://none Julia

Hah! The iPhone convert! Will contemplate on wether to splurge on that or get something else. Thanks.
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[Reply]
John

Check out the HTC Touch 3G comparing the size and features. Lacks a keypad (if it matters). I like calling this the small geek chic of the lot. Comes in 4 colors. Its my choice over the iphone craze.

The download speed is at 7.2 MBps which is the available bandwidth of your 3G enabled sim card. Has wifi, which is lovely.

Where as comparing with the Palm Pre, specs are not clearly mentioned, which should be less. Other brands do sell their 3G enabled phones which come with around 3-5 MBps (in the similar or higher price – size – feature ratio)

happy hunting
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[Reply]
Omar

I recommend any new Android phone Especially the HTC Dream
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http://www.facebook.com/emojonation Majed

Well the GSM version will be available in Germany 12th of October 2009 & in the UK on the 17th of the same month! Doubt the support for Arabic will be available at any point soon although i’m curious as to whether the Treo Pro (which is sold at Longo in Saudi) has Arabic support?! It is a Wondows based phone though & the Pre is Web OS.
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Khaled A. Reply:
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:04 pm
it took over 13 years and Palm never added Arabic support to Palm OS. I doubt they will care about us now.

As for previous models with Windows Mobile I assume since they are powered by Windows you can use Arabic.

Don’t bother buying a Treo Pro, Palm has discontinued all Windows based Palm devices.
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[Reply]
Yasin

Hello,can i buy a blackberry bold from UK and use it in ksa?
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Khaled A. Reply:
November 4th, 2009 at 12:39 am
if it is unlocked then yes you can.
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http://attasonline.com Abubaker

Hello and nice page and site,

Palm in the early days did have Arabic application interface through Sakher company as I remember. Now, Palm OS devices do support Arabic and come with Arabizing add-on or built in as my Centro bought from Jareer.

USR Palm 1000 > Palm Vx > Palm 515 > Palm TT > Palm T3 > Treo 650 > Centro > Plam Pre (inshaalah)

http://attasonline.com/other/palm/palm.html
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amjz

I live in Jordan, i got the GSM Palm Pre from Germany, no Arabic Support yet. also the phone feels plastic and there is an issuse with screen and 2G network calling buzzing. so i dont recommneded anybody right now at the moment to buy a Palm Pre …

I want to sell my Palm Pre so if anybody interested please contact me ..
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Khaled A. Reply:
November 13th, 2009 at 1:43 am
thanks, hopefully someone will respond to you
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[Reply]
Az Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 11:59 am
How much are u selling it for?
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[Reply]
Fautimah

I bought a Palm Centro when my palm pda died to allow me to maintain my palm os stuff while waiting for the palm pre to come out. it has an arabic/english keyboard and software called “apos” that lets me read and write in arabic. it works well.
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amjz

Fautimah .. From where did you get the Palm Centro with phisical Arabic/English Keyboad? I have a palm centro but with english keyboad, could you please help me out to find an arabic/english keyboad to replace mine? And is there anywhere on internet net can I find the phisical part of the arabic/english keyboard? Thnx
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Fautimah

I bought it at Jarir bookstore in Madinah, KSA but I don’t think they carry it anymore. Informobility is the company with the APOS software… their website is http://www.arabicpalm.com/en/. I don’t know, but maybe its possible to find more information there as well. Good hunting!
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amjz

actually im using piloc for reading and writing arabic on my Palm Centro, but i bought mine from USA and the phisical keybard in english letters only, i wish if i could get a centro with arabic/english letters … could you please give me thier phone number? do u have a palm centro and wanna sell it for parts?
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[Reply]
Fautimah

here’s jarir’s showroom website: http://www.jarirbookstore.com/html/showrooms.asp

i do have the centro but not ready to see for parts. i’ll let you know if i change my mind.
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[Reply]
Raneed

Hello All, I just heard that Palm Pre is available with Arabic/English Keyboard. I have searched but with no luck in finding one. If anyone knows a site or whom is selling it please send me info.
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[Reply]
Khaled A. Reply:
December 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
According to this post on the official Palm forums http://forums.palm.com/palm/board/message?board.id=webossoftware&thread.id=7347 there is none
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[Reply]
ahmad alsabban

hi all

any new news regarding palm pre in saudi arabia????
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[Reply]
amjz

Not yet, i have a Palm Pre. HP bught Palm so guys expect Palm Pre and maybe other WebOS devices comming soon to Middle East coz Palm now is HP and HP is a global company and it will brings WebOS to middle east very soon especially UAE and KSA. maybe this will happn when HP brings WebOS 2 to the light in fall at the end of this year.

also there is no Arabic support yet.
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[Reply]
mansoor

Please can any one tell me how can i get or from where can i get a palm pre in saudi .. thank you

thank in advance.
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[Reply]
Azmi Reply:
December 7th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
@mansoor, I have a used Palm Pre in a great condition for sale in Jeddah if you want
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[Reply]

Will the Palm Pre arrive to Saudi Arabia?

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