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AT&T Hates On The Palm Pre, And Apparently Has A Short-Term Memory

AT&T sent around a memo that extols the iPhone and bashes the Palm Pre. This type of document has surfaced in the past, and will surely show up again. The idea is to give sales associates arguments to use in favor of an AT&T phone rather than a competing model. Palm's Pre was sure to see this type of treatment at some point, and here it is.

The "AT&T iPhone 3G vs. Sprint Palm Pre comparison chart" makes a few astute observations along with a number of blatant overstatements. Let's take a look, shall we?

First up is the value proposition. AT&T argues that the iPhone is lighter, thinner, has a larger screen and higher quality materials (metal and glass versus plastic). It also points out that the Pre only comes in black, while the iPhone comes in both white and black. Gee, AT&T, I seem to remember the original iPhone came only in one color. Do you really think black will be the only hue we see the Pre in? Please.

The iPhone does have more memory (16GB versus just 8GB for the Pre), and its display is 0.4 inches bigger. Those are indisputable.

Next, AT&T targets applications. At launch, the Pre will have an "unproven app catalog app store", whereas the iPhone has 25,000 apps, with nearly one billion already downloaded. Is AT&T forgetting that the iPhone Apps Store was unproven when it launched? Some developers have expressed great enthusiasm for the Pre and webOS. I think it's too early to call, AT&T.

AT&T also says that Pre's touch screen is not intuitive and that the iPhone's is. While I agree that the iPhone's touch screen user interface still has yet to be matched by the competition, the Pre comes awfully darned close, and surpasses the iPhone in some ways.

Next up, music. It's true that the iPhone seamlessly integrates with iTunes and the iTunes Music Store. It syncs automatically. It couldn't be easier. According to AT&T, the Pre can only accept music that is dragged-and-dropped onto the device's memory card. In other words, no seamless syncing solution. AT&T has Palm's number on that one.

The rest of the Pre's faults are wireless technology related. AT&T points out the Pre's inability to roam internationally, for it is based on CDMA technology used by Sprint. The iPhone's GSM technology can roam on many of the world's wireless networks. I think AT&T is forgetting that Palm has confirmed that a UMTS/WCDMA version of the Pre is already in the works. In other words, world-wide roaming is on the way. AT&T points out the Pre's Wi-Fi is "limited", which really means the Pre isn't allowed to access AT&T's hotspot network and the iPhone is.

The last -- and dare I say most interesting -- point that AT&T discusses is the Pre's business capabilities. It points out that the lack of GSM technology combined with a limited number of enterprise applications at launch clearly show it is not an enterprise device.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure that analyst organizations panned the original iPhone as an enterprise device for a number of reasons. Only recently has the analyst community really come around and recommended the iPhone for business users.

That's a pretty weak argument, in my book. Sure, the iPhone has a two-year head start on the Pre, but that doesn't mean Palm, the Pre and webOS can't catch up or even surpass AT&T's golden device.

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