Palm today announced that the Palm Pre phone is scheduled to be available initially in the UK, Ireland and Germany exclusively on the O2 network, and in Spain exclusively on the Movistar network, in time for the holidays. "Europe continues to be an important region for Palm, and we're proud to work with O2 and Movistar to spread the excitement Palm Pre has already ignited in North America," said Jon Rubinstein, Palm chairman and chief executive officer. "Since we showed Palm Pre at Mobile World Congress in February, there's been a great deal of anticipation for an announcement about European availability, and that day is here."

"We are fast becoming the home of the smartphone with the addition of the hotly-anticipated Palm Pre to our already extensive portfolio," said Matthew Key, chairman and chief executive officer, Telef?nica Europe. "Our customers will be the first outside of North America to experience one of the most successful mobile devices of the year."

In its first weekend of availability in the United States, Palm Pre broke Sprint's previous first-weekend sales records. Palm Pre also is scheduled to debut in Canada with Bell Mobility in the second half of 2009.

Palm hopes the Pre, which also competes head to head with Research in Motion's BlackBerry, will lead the company out of persistent losses.