Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) is putting the Palm Pre Plus in the bargain bin. The Palm Pre Plus, which debuted in late January for $150 with a two-year contract (after a $100 mail-in rebate) was later cut to $50--and is now selling for $30 with a two-year contract. The Pixi Plus, which was originally introduced at $99.99 (after a $100 mail-in rebate) is also being offered for $30.
The two devices were announced amid much hoopla at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January and feature some interesting upgrades from their predecessors, the Palm Pre and the Palm Pixi, which are sold through Sprint Nextel (NASDAQ: S). The upgraded Pre features an increase in internal memory to 16 GB, and the upgraded Pixi has WiFi. Both devices also can be used as mobile WiFi hotspots.
Earlier this month Verizon also said it was offering its Palm WiFi hotspot service for free. The company originally charged consumers $40 per month for the service.
Just last week Hewlett-Packard stunned the industry by announcing it will buy Palm (NASDAQ: PALM), maker of the Palm Pre Plus and the Palm Pixi Plus, for $1.2 billion. The news ended weeks of speculation about Palm's fate and pushed HP deeper into the smartphone market.
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