Palm and Sprint have announced the upcoming availability of the Treo Pro smartphone for the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network on March 15.
Treo Pro is a full-function smartphone designed to offer users the ease of use and robust features they demand while providing the reliability and manageability IT departments require. With the EV-DO Rev. A speeds of Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network, Wi-Fi, GPS and Windows Mobile 6.1 capabilities.
“Business decision makers require a product that not only integrates seamlessly into their existing IT infrastructures, but one that’s also cost-effective,” said John Traynor, vice president, business products, Palm, Inc. “Treo Pro delivers just that -“ a feature set that IT managers need to support their mobile work force.”
Treo Pro is the first Palm phone available with Internet Explorer Mobile 6, with options for either a mobile-optimized or desktop-like Internet browsing experience Sprint’s 3G network. It blends a high-resolution color touch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard with a removable battery that packs up to five hours of talk time and enough strength for the business user’s needs, offering a powerful yet effortless mobile experience. Palm’s Wi-Fi hardware and software innovations on Treo Pro make it easy to get online fast and manage network connections and power usage. The one-touch Wi-Fi button provides a Wi-Fi experience that gets Treo Pro users rapidly connected at home, in the office or in Wi-Fi hotspots.
“The combination of Sprint Mobile Broadband with EV-DO (Evolution – Data Optimized) Revision (Rev.) A technology and Windows Mobile 6.1 on a Palm smartphone creates a mobile solution that meets the needs of today’s mobile professionals,” said Kevin Packingham, senior vice president of product & technology development for Sprint. “For years, Sprint, Microsoft and Palm have worked together to provide businesses large and small with an affordable mobile experience that is second to none, and Treo Pro continues that collaborative tradition.”
Treo Pro offers integrated GPS, enabling Sprint Navigation with turn-by-turn directions, maps and point-of-interest searches for locations such as restaurants or stores. Additional Sprint-exclusive content available on Treo Pro includes:
- Sprint TV -“ Allows Treo Pro users to watch TV or video-on-demand or catch the latest news, sports, weather, entertainment and movie trailers on the go.
- Sprint Music -“ Enables users to wirelessly download digital music tracks to Treo Pro and choose from hundreds of thousands of full-length songs from virtually every genre.
- Pocket Express -“ Retrieves customized, up-to-date Web content such as sports, weather, news, money and movie information with the push of a button. SMS, and the ability to share pictures and video with MMS seamlessly in one application. It also offers Sprint IM with access to Yahoo! Messenger, AOL’s AIM service and MSN Messenger.
With an open network platform, Sprint is able to offer customers new business applications created through Sprint’s Professional Developer Program. A robust community of application developers that previously focused on desktop services is now finding it easier to generate services that can perform on both the desktop and mobile devices.
Treo Pro supports Microsoft Direct Push Technology for up-to-date email, contacts and calendars. With the deployment of Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008, Treo Pro can deliver increased security, easier smartphone management, and access to information on the corporate network. IT professionals can confidently manage large Treo Pro deployments the same way they manage PCs.
With Internet Explorer Mobile 6, Treo Pro brings users a new browsing experience. Users can choose to browse in a mobile-optimized mode or in a desktop browser mode. Microsoft brings a mobile Web-browsing experience on par with what end users and developers have come to expect from their desktops -“ the ability to easily view Web pages and multimedia on the Web and best-in-class capability to complete transactions, from banking to checking in for a flight. Treo Pro helps optimize business processes by mobilizing users with several Palm specific enhancements to the Windows platform, including:
- One-touch Wi-Fi button — Easy, fast Wi-Fi connection experience (802.11b/g).
- Ringer switch -“ Silences the device immediately.
- Clock and date screen saver -“ Lets users know at a glance -“ without turning on the device -“ what date and time it is and whether they’ve missed a call or have a new SMS/MMS message.
- New voicemail indicator -“ The center button flashes to let users know that a voicemail is waiting.
- Dedicated email and calendar buttons -“ Fast one-button access.
Sprint also launched Ready Now, a revolution in the wireless retail experience, in all company-owned Sprint stores last fall. With Ready Now, Sprint has trained and committed its retail associates to work one-on-one with customers to personalize phones, set up features and demonstrate how phones work -“ before customers leave the store. Treo Pro customers can work with Sprint retail associates to learn more about how they can fully leverage the strengths of their device on Sprint’s Mobile Broadband Network.
Treo Pro will be available March 15 through all Sprint retail channels, including www.sprint.com/treopro, 1-800-SPRINT1 and Sprint retail stores, for $199.99 with a two-year subscriber agreement (after a $100 instant rebate and $100 mail-in rebate, with an Everything plan with data or a $30 per month or higher data add-on). It will be available through the Palm Store and Palm’s B2B sales organization beginning March 16.
