Palm Centro finally finds its way down under

After selling more than one million Palm Centro smartphones in the United States, Palm announced its lowest-priced smartphone will finally be available to Australia Telstra pre-paid customers starting on May 26.

Available to the US users on the AT&T or Sprint networks, with rumors of a Verizon Wireless version in the works, the Centro features a full QWERTY keyboard, 320x320 pixel touch screen, 1.3 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth technology. On the software side, the phone is powered by Palm OS 5.4.9, has easy access to Yahoo and Gmail, a built-in Google Maps application, and integrated photo and video sharing software.

Australian users will also be able to use a built-in BigPond link that will allow them to browse content from BigPond, the largest ISP operating in Australia, along with access to mobile content and BigPond mobile e-mail.

Although the Centro is available to Sprint and AT&T customers in multiple colors, it will initially be available to Aussie users only in "glacier."

The phone will launch locked to the Telstra network, although Palm is open to the idea of shipping an unlocked version, depending on customer demand. Sprint's press release indicates the phone will operate on the quad-band GSM/EDGE network in Australia.

Palm did not include an initial MSRP for the Centro.

Since its launch on the US market in mid-October, the Centro has been the fastest selling smartphone in Palm's history. But Palm needs to see continued success with the Australian launch, because even though smartphone shipments continue to increase, Palm has been unable to keep up with Apple, Research in Motion (RIM), and other manufacturers.