Palm Pre Goes On Pre-Order For £399 SIM Free

Two UK retailers have started taking pre-orders for Palm's forthcoming Pre smartphone for as little as £399 with the delivery date widely believed to be around the end of October 2009.

UK-based mobile phone specialist Handtec have already listed the phone which, surprisingly is available SIM-Free. Another lesser known e-tailer, London-based m-Phone, has the phone on per-order for a slightly more expensive £450 tag.

Play.com and Expansys will sell SIM-free versions of the Palm Pre soon although the prices have yet to be unveiled (ed: Google Products lists the Pre from Play.com with a selling price of £500).

It seems therefore that the Palm Pre will be selling at a price comparable to the Nokia N97 or even less. In comparison, the iPhone 3GS (unlocked) costs north of £800 while the O2-bound iPhone 3GS sells for around £530. Expect the Palm Pre on O2 to sell for around £300 or less.

In related news, Palm is likely to share a bit of data with the rest of the world next Thursday when the smartphone manufacturer reveals its first quarter results. Analysts are willing to find out whether the Pre is as successful as the hype has led many to believe.