Bell Canada may be one of the first North American carriers outside of Sprint to pick up the Palm Pre, a roadmap leaked to Mobile Syrup shows. The first webOS smartphone is reportedly scheduled to arrive on the carrier in late spring or early summer and would arrive just slightly after the likely Sprint release in June. Whether there will be any software differences between versions of the multi-touch phone isn't known.
A pair of as-yet unannounced BlackBerries are also billed as due in or before the same timeframe as the Pre and should include the Pearl Flip 8230, which is a straightforward CDMA and EVDO conversion of the clamshell smartphone, as well as the "Niagara," a similar adaptation of the BlackBerry Curve 8900 for CDMA networks with the same 480x360 display, 3.2-megapixel camera and GPS but the possible removal of Wi-Fi to force customers to use the EVDO-based 3G network.
The carrier may also preempt Sprint by launching the CDMA Palm Treo Pro earlier, on February 26th, and may charge less for the phone itself at $200 Canadian ($161 US) in exchange for a three-year voice and data contract.
Source: electronista
