Verizon to Offer All Palm Devices on Prepaid Plans

Once considered the red-haired stepchild to the postpaid wireless industry, the continuing economic woes plaguing our economy have brought new attention to prepaid, no-contract wireless plans. Now, a leaked Verizon Wireless screen capture shows what could be the opening salvo of a major battle for more dollars from prepaid wireless users.

If this report from Android Does is correct, VZW prepaid service is coming to nearly all of the carrier's 3G feature phones and their top tier of smartphones running WebOS, BlackBerry and AndroidOSes on September 2nd. Only Verizon's handful of Windows Mobile offerings appear to be exempt from this new prepaid push.

It's unclear if Verizon is going to sell specially-branded and packaged versions of these devices at retail for the prepaid market and, if so, if they will be limited in any way compared to their postpaid brethren. Previously, a prepaid customer's highest-end offering was something along the lines of a BlackBerry Curve or Kyocera's new Android-powered Zio M6000 on Cricket. Interestingly, the "Notes" area of the leaked Verizon document indicate that "Any used device from the above list is eligible for activation", offering a strong hint that a secondhand smartphone can be pressed into duty as a secondary or backup device. With the plentiful availability of gently used, low-cost Verizon WebOS devices on the secondhand market, this would be the most affordable way to dip a toe into the WebOS waters, especially with the forthcoming WebOS 2.0 update.

As an apples to apples comparison, a "loaded" prepaid Verizon smartphone plan with unlimited voice, text, and data comes to $125 per month, a $5 premium over comparably configured postpaid service.

Unfortunately, a $30 mandatory unlimited data package will be required for all of Verizon's prepaid smartphones, mitigating any substantial cost savings versus a postpaid plan. Nevertheless, for users who do not need or want a mandatory contract or who have poor credit, it's encouraging to see the availability of more options in the prepaid area. To date, this is the first reported availability of a Palm-branded device (WebOS or otherwise) in the prepaid market.

Verizon to Offer All Palm Devices on Prepaid Plans http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9561/verizon-to-offer-all-palm-devices-on-prepaid-plans/

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