O2 have just announced that they have won the rights to sell the Palm Pre on it’s network over here in the UK. For anybody who isn’t aware, the Palm Pre is in my opinion the closest thing to challenging the iPhone (3GS). Having had first hand experience using both, there really isn’t anything out there on the market who could challenge both these two devices (smartphone wise)

There’s no word yet on what the pricing will be for the Palm Pre but over in the US, it launched for $199.99 (roughly £129) on contract, but given that the iPhone 3GS sells at closer to £180, expect the Palm Pre to be more expensive than our neighbours across the pond.

Don’t hold your breath though, it’s not due for release until closer to Christmas time.

Now for the sake of neutrality, I’ve got to mention that I’m an iPhone 3GS user and that I’ve had all versions of the iPhone since it’s launch a few years back. Ever since I’ve first started using an iPhone, I haven’t looked back. Both family and friends have had a number of other smartphones notably the Blackberry Bold, Samsung Omnia and the Android G1 to name but a few but to be frank, none of them come close to being as good a device as the iPhone.

That said, the Palm Pre was the closest device to making me switch from Apple to Palm, with it’s WebOS interface and the inclusion of multitouch, it does have a great UI. What I find most annoying about these touch screen smartphone competitorsh is that they just don’t have as good a touch screen as the iPhone/Pre. For a device that is meant to be “touched”, for the most part it’s either too slow and laggy or just plain unresponsive when using the screen. Whether this is a patent issue or a cost issue with the hardware, I don’t know but after having something as fluid and instant as the iPhone, it really is difficult to adjust to the lag on most other smart phones.

Of course the iPhone isn’t without it’s criticisms. Many users aren’t used to the onscreen keyboard still and of course 3.2 megapixels is hardly anything revolutionary, in fact I’d go so far as to say that a lot of “new features” really struggle to break the mould, but it’s that first big leap that Apple took into the smartphone market at the start that’s had rival companies playing the catch up game.

I digress. Will the Palm Pre outsell the iPhone? Probably not if for the reason that it’s a substantially smaller company and in terms of advertising alone, cannot be matched to the Cupertino giant. Until the HTC Hero comes out, there really isn’t anything on the horizon as far as I know that’ll put pressure on Palm and Apple. But for O2 to have both of these devices available for purchase exclusively, you’ve got to take your hats off to the executives at O2 for making this bold and bright move.