Hasta La Gadget!

The boardroom drama behind the HP acquisition wasn’t the only Palm news today — the company also launched the AT&T Palm Pre Plus. No surprises here — it’s going to $149, decidedly more than Verizon’s $29 with free Mobile Hotspot service — but hey, at least it’s out there, and you get a free Touchstone in the deal, so that’s nice.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Palm Pre Plus launched on AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 May 2010 19:43:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We knew it was coming end of May, now we have a date: May 28th and up for pre-order on May 10th. That’s when the iPad will hit Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. It lands in Austria, Belgium, Hong Kong, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand and Singapore in July. Sorry, still no pricing. Full press release after the break.

Update: Tax-inclusive pricing is out. Très cher! Oh, and Orange UK has fessed up to pricing details for the iPad 3G + WiFi.

Update II: A handy pricing chart has also surfaced, helping you get a better grasp on what Apple’s charging for its first tablet in the first international launch markets.

Europe:

• 16GB WiFi-only €479
• 32GB WiFi-only €579
• 64GB WiFi-only €679
• 16GB WiFi+3G €579
• 32GB WiFi+3G €679
• 64GB WiFi+3G €779

UK:

• 16GB WiFi-only £429
• 32GB WiFi-only £499
• 64GB WiFi-only £599
• 16GB WiFi+3G £529
• 32GB WiFi+3G £599
• 64GB WiFi+3G £699

Continue reading iPad international launch is go on May 28 (update: pricing)

iPad international launch is go on May 28 (update: pricing) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 May 2010 08:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ah, there it is, UK’s first-ever Best Buy store, officially born at 7am local time yesterday. Naturally, we had to be there to witness such magical moment for Britain’s consumer tech market — the Brits had longed for an injection of energy and professionalism to the seemingly slacking chain stores. Many would agree that DSGi’s two main brands — Currys and PC World — are on the naughty list, even after their recent relaunch. From what we saw today, it looks like Best Buy’s already heading in the right direction. Let’s start with the front-line employees. Most of these Blueshirts provided genuine technical answers rather than bluffing their way out, plus we were given product recommendations with no desperate sales pitch as commonly seen in other stores. When we revealed our identity to one of the sales reps, he confirmed that they were trained to not force random products onto customers — quite the opposite culture to his old days at DSGi (assuming he was telling the truth). We sure did appreciate this new-found shopping freedom in gadget stores, but did the other customers feel the same way? Find out what we heard after the break.

Continue reading Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video)

Best Buy opens first UK store in Thurrock, we go hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 01 May 2010 05:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We heard some pretty ridiculous estimates over the weekend, but these figures are straight out of Cupertino’s mouth: over 300,000 iPads were sold on April 3rd. Specifically, that many were moved in the US as of midnight (PT, we’re assuming) on Saturday, though this does include deliveries of pre-ordered units to customers, deliveries to channel partners (such as Best Buy) and sales at Apple Retail Stores. We should point out, though, that just because Best Buy purchased a bundle of ’em doesn’t mean that end users have (yet), but still, this is a pretty impressive feat for something that not everyone was convinced that they “needed” in January. If you’ll recall, Apple only sold 270,000 iPhones during its first 30 hours on the market, yet it moved over a million iPhone 3GS units during that handset’s opening weekend. In related news, iPad users also downloaded over a million apps and over 250,000 ebooks from the iBookstore during launch day, with Steve Jobs himself noting that “iPad users, on average, downloaded more than three apps and close to one book within hours of unpacking their new iPad.” Now, let’s see if these guys can keep pace through the first full week.

[Thanks, Tal]

Apple sells over 300,000 iPad tablets on US launch day originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 08:59:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, well, what do we have here? In case you were wondering if those leaked Best Buy iPad playbook images making the rounds this weekend were legit, we’ve been handed a 15-page PDF that matches up with everything we’ve seen so far. Granted, this could still be fake, but it’s a pretty thorough and clever one, if so. There isn’t really anything too exciting that we haven’t already covered, but for those who felt like something in their lives were missing between the excerpts, feel free to browse the entire thing now while you wait (im)patiently for Saturday.

Best Buy’s iPad launch playbook leaked in its entirety? Looks like it originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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