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Verizon (News - Alert) Wireless will soon become a major player in the smartphone market. The largest U.S. mobile carrier will offer the Palm Pre within the next six months, company officials revealed this week.

 

During a conference webcast, Verizon Wireless Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said consumers could expect to see a “steady stream of new devices from multiple vendors," including the anticipated Palm Pre, Reuters reported.

 

In addition to the Pre, Verizon’s phone line-up is also expected to include a new version of the touchscreen controlled BlackBerry Storm from Research In Motion Ltd and a new BlackBerry dubbed Tour, according to Reuters. Devices from Motorola (News - Alert), Inc. and phones based on Android, the Google Inc. mobile system are also expected to launch on Verizon’s network, the report said.

 

Palm is relying heavily on the Pre to boost its own business in an attempt to steal market share from competitors, including Apple Inc.

 

Verizon’s news comes as a possible blow to Sprint (News - Alert), which will be the exclusive provider of the Pre when the device rolls out June 6, TMC reported. The smartphone was anticipated to be Sprint's “flagship” handset. And in many ways, the Palm Pre is being portrayed as Sprint’s answer to Apple, Inc.’s iPhone (News - Alert). But it will be more difficult to lure customers if the device goes to Verizon's network in six months, according to Information Week.

 

The announcement is good news for Verizon customers who want to wait the six months instead of signing up for Sprint, which ranks at the bottom in customer satisfaction among the four major U.S. wireless carriers, according to a recent study by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, PC World reports.

 

Meanwhile, CNET reported that Sprint will have the exclusive on the Palm Pre through 2009. No matter how it plays out, Sprint officials reportedly are expecting that the devices will sell out quickly.

 

Palm’s latest release is expected to resurrect the financially struggling smartphone provider. Even though Palm was considered innovative technology when it first came onto the scene, it has recently been dwarfed by the success of RIM’s BlackBerry and Apple’s iPhone, according to TMC (News - Alert).

 

The Palm Pre for Sprint goes on sale nationwide June 6 for $199.99 with a two-year contract. As TMC recently reported, Sprint Chief Executive Dan Hess told analysts the Pre would be appealing as a consumer and business device.

 

With the addition of Verizon to Palm's telcom list, the opportunity for Palm Pre sales will more than likely double, according to a Globe and Mail report. Verizon sells phones to 80 million customers, while Sprint has 50 million users, the newspaper said.

 

But the pressure is already mounting. Apple is expected to launch its next iPhone on June 8, two days after the Pre’s release.

 

UBS analyst Maynard Um said Verizon's Pre news was encouraging for Palm investors, but predicted increasing competition, particularly from Motorola on pricing, Reuters said.

 

One thing is clear. Consumers will have many choices and will ultimately decide which smartphone will fit the bill.

 

“People have to decide on whether they should skip the iPhone, which has 10,000 applications, or the Blackberry with its bullet-proof e-mail and enterprise integration, to go with an unknown, untried and untested device,” TMC President Rich Tehrani wrote earlier this year. “But maybe, just maybe if enough developers get behind the Pre, and the OS is as advanced and seamlessly connected as we are being told, Palm can come back from the near dead.”