Centro on AT&T: Palm tries again

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

February 19, 2008, 1:26 PM

AT&T is now offering Palm's budget-priced Centro, but is a small price tag enough to break through in what is becoming the preferred carrier for smartphone users?

Palm has been struggling lately, recently settling a class action lawsuit filed by Treo owners faced with repeatedly failing hardware, closing down its retail stores, and seeing an overall unfavorable 2007.

By premiering the Centro exclusively with Sprint last year, Palm was showing off the device's smaller profile and pricetag to the everyday user, but reception was lukewarm. Opening up the device to other carriers should, at least, result in broader adoption.

The new Centro does have some desirable premium features: TeleNav GPS navigation, and MobiTV mobile television, both for $9.99 a month, XM Mobile Radio for $8.99 a month, and MusicID for $3.99. But the device's $99.99 (with contract) pricetag is still higher than other smartphones offered through AT&T.

In fact, AT&T's Centro price is actually the same as Samsung's BlackJack II, and Pantech's Duo WM6 device, and several BlackBerry models; and is the same as Verizon Wireless' current special price for its buildout of the BlackBerry Pearl. While a hundred bucks is cheap in contrast to other Palm handsets, it is far from low-tier.

Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone still dominates AT&T's touchscreen smartphone category.