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The Veer launch is getting closer!

By: , 4/18/2011 3:09 pm | 33 comments

You have been seeing the news all weekend via Twitter and other tech news outlets. It seems clear that HP is gearing up for the launch of the HP Veer. There were two events posted on the internet this weekend that at least initially were publicly viewable. One was on May 2 in Anaheim CA, and the other on May 4 in San Francisco, CA. These events were reported to us from as far as Switzerland by @Twtomcat (Markus Leutwyler) to right here in our own back yard by @Ozetadev (Philip Bernstein) in New York. Both events are billed as Launch Party events, but upon registering Philip reported on Twitter that the event is for AT&T and Best Buy employees. This is definitely news since a carrier had not yet been publicly announced. Although many had suspected AT&T as the U.S. carrier of choice since the Veer specs only accounted for the GSM varieties. The event announcements initially gave some details of training and hands on exploration of the devices, however since then they now only show as private events. Clearly these are not actual launch dates as the Veer will not launch on two different dates for the same carrier. What is clear is that the launch draws ever closer.

In addition to the anticipated AT&T launch we are also seeing hints at an O2 launch and even a potential SFR France launch. The details aren’t as clear yet but a photo of an AZERTY keyboard Veer, and an O2 Veer reservation page are out there.  So keep your eyes open.  We are hoping the tiny HP Veer launch is so huge there isn’t a chance you will miss it.

Sources: Twtomcat, Ozetadev, Palm-Pre France and PreCentral.net

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About Rich Dunbar

Rich is Sr. Editor at webOSroundup and mobileRoundup as well as a husband, father of 4, webOS Ambassador and webOS Developer who loves all things webOS and Harley Davidson. You can find him on Twitter as @RichDunbar
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  • Rich

    I really don’t think the Veer is going to be a successful phone.. . It’s too small (like, Kin small) and I don’t think there’s a market for it. People want slab phones. The Pre 3 looks cool…but give me that in slab form with a landscape keyboard and you have a winner.

    • http://www.pamelahazelton.com Pamela Hazelton

      I think it’s going to be great for soccer moms, and perhaps their kids (despite the fact I can’t think of many good reasons why a kid needs a smartphone).

      • John S.

        Ah, perfect, soccer moms. Just like that other advertising campaign for the…what was it? Oh yeah, the Pre.

        • http://www.pamelahazelton.com Pamela Hazelton

          You have any idea how many mommy bloggers there are? They could drive this thing into the masses.

      • John S.

        Ah, perfect, soccer moms. Just like that other advertising campaign for the…what was it? Oh yeah, the Pre.

    • etnad

      If Pre3 doesn’t come to Sprint then the Evo 3D will be my next phone. The deal breaker is the cost of the data (unlimited) plan. And by the time (when???) Pre3 comes it’s already obsolete compared to others.

  • CanucksLovePalm

    I think the veer may surprize a few people. Woman and children may go for this unit. HP’s hurdle will be selling the low level app catalogue and the lack of public knowledge of these units.

    • http://www.pamelahazelton.com Pamela Hazelton

      Yep. Some people don’t want or need all the bells and whistles. Actually, I’ve never used my phone to download music. I rarely use Pandora.

    • http://www.pamelahazelton.com Pamela Hazelton

      Not to mention small business folk who opt for a Touchpad but want a simple, portable device. Perhaps to use only for scheduling, calling and minimal texting.

  • Rudy P.

    Personally, I think that Veer may have a small success, especially associated with the touchpad … It is true that with a tablet, using his phone differently. And then, the Veer can dig a hole …

  • Rudy P.

    Personally, I think that Veer may have a small success, especially associated with the touchpad … It is true that with a tablet, using his phone differently. And then, the Veer can dig a hole …

  • Guest

    The resevation-page of o2 offers no ‘reservation’ – it’s only an information service about the launch date by mail!

  • http://twitter.com/jdmulloy Joe Mulloy

    I don’t give a damn about the Veer. Where is my freaking Pre 3. They also need to tell us which carriers are getting it. I’m pretty confident that AT&T and Verizon will get the Pre 3 but I doubt Sprint will. Screw Sprint, they obviously don’t want my business anymore so when the Pre 3 comes out I’m leaving.

    • Marv

      Money over Phones. I would rather leave pre than sprint. HP should be begging sprint to carry their phones since they were the only carrier with successful sales with the pre. Oh well I’m tired of having last gen phones. By the time the pre 3 is out apple and half of the andriod phones will be dual core. HP is way to slow out of the gates, they would better off cancelling everything and go back to the drawing board.

  • http://profiles.google.com/anayagamingllc Jason Buffalo

    The Veer will be fine, it’s all about the cost, if the Veer can go cheaper then other smartphones then it will
    be a success, also we don’t even know what the Veer is getting Advertised for, it could be directly targeted to
    teens then as adults, in the end Time will Tell, Also so far Sprint is concerned, i doubt that sprint don’t want to
    have a HP Smartphone the question is if HP want’s it’s smartphone to be distributed true Sprint.

    • http://twitter.com/jdmulloy Joe Mulloy

      The problem facing the Veer is the same problem that killed all other low end smartphones before it. The high cost of data plans. It doesn’t matter if a smartphone is cheap or even free if you have to pay the same monthly plan cost as a high end phone. This is what killed the kin. The good news is that the Veer will be on AT&T, which offers a cheap 200MB data plan even for smartphones, so there is a potential that the Veer will be successful as a low end smartphone.

      • http://profiles.google.com/anayagamingllc Jason Buffalo

        The Veer is no Low End Smartphone, don’t let the size fool you, so far Data Plans are concerned, this has
        nothing to do with the success of the Veer, since all Data Plans are the same that means one thing, you either can effort it or not, so that leaves us with appeal and that is a question that will be answered in the
        coming months when the Veer get’s released.

        • Fango

          I have talked to sprint, and everytime I have asked them about it, they said they have cut all their ties to hp. Whhhyyyyy.

          • http://www.pamelahazelton.com Pamela Hazelton

            I assure you – you’re talking to someone who doesn’t know flip. Carrier reps have no insight until they get the word from corporate.

  • Meester

    The Veer is the first nail in the webos coffin. The second nail, the Pre3. The third, TouchPad.

    And the fourth nail is the webos slab ‘leaked’ concept that will never see the light of day.

  • John K.

    Blah, blah, blah. Hold your breath, wait for it, “in the coming months” on an over priced carrier. I’m waiting for Sprint until June and if no word, I’ll be headed somewhere else. I’m not leaving Sprint for an overpriced plan and worse signal than I’ve got now. Original Pre is about to die and I’ll need something by the end of June. Hurry up HP!!!

  • http://heywhatareyoudoing Cristian

    Now that wee no waer it is going to be rales lets hope the pre 3 is for sprint

  • http://www.pamelahazelton.com Pamela Hazelton

    Gotta love all the grand negativity. I’m beginning to think some so-called webOS fans really do deserve Android. ‘Nuff said.

    Go ahead, blast me.

    • Q_res

      No need to “blast” you, but the negativity is entirely earned on HP’s part. It’s been almost 2 years since the Pre launched on Sprint, what have we gotten since? The Plus model on AT&T/VZW, a paper launch for an underwhelming Pre 2 that eventually managed to hit market. Then the HP stuff that was said (by the CEO no less) to launch within weeks, weeks became months. And we still have no idea when the Pre 3 will hit. There’s a saying in game development, “Ship or die”, no one wants to see WebOS die. The alternative is for HP to be uncharacteristically competent, pull their thumb out of their butt, and release good product.

      • Marv

        Ditto it’s just frustration for an Operating system that is the better than IOS and Android but has been horribly mismanaged all these years. Could you imagine if Steve Jobs ran Palm?

        • Jdubbs33

          Man, WebOS would be everywhere by now if that were the case. Marketing has hurt the OS more than anything else. I will remain patient though. I love WebOS too much to go anywhere.

          • Q_res

            I’m trying to remain patient, my upgrade is in August, but I don’t know what I’ll do if the Pre 3 doesn’t hit Sprint. I refuse to use Android because of the Google element. I guess I’ll be stuck with with WP7…

        • John

          Yes, I can imagine it. WebOS would be locked-down and homebrew free. It would also be available on only a few, high-selling devices. Major functionality would have been sacrificed for pretty visuals. And, it would only be available on one carrier. Great developers and groups like WebOS Internals, sconix, etc, would have been sued by Apple and permanently banned from contributing to the app store.

          • Anonymous

            But the iPhone has a vast mod and jailbreak community, larger than the WebOS community. HP is taking too long to ship, that’s their only problem. Too bad iOS 5 and Android 3 will overshadow HPs long overdue webOS revival.

          • Joseph

            Its clear that iPhone 5 is coming, and it’s clear that Android is upgrading. As you say, will HP have anything tangible to draw the limelight?

          • Joseph

            “Major functionality would have been sacrificed for pretty visuals.” Ahem. And HP did what to 1.x users? Oh yes it brought them ENHANCED FUNCTIONALITY. Ahem.