Europeans will soon get the long-awaited Pre as Palm teams with O2 to take its flagship smartphone to the UK, Ireland, and Germany.

Palm’s Pre smartphone is arriving to the UK on October 16 exclusively on the O2 network, a Telefonica-owned carrier that’s also carrying the iPhone confirmed via a press release yesterday. Would-be buyers need to have a bank account, an email address (for bills), and pass a credit check. In addition, two pieces of ID (with a valid address) are needed for those buying a Pre at retail stores.

Jon Rubinstein, Palm’s chairman and CEO, has noted that

there’s a lot of excitement about Palm Pre in Europe as we continue to expand Palm webOS products across new carriers and countries.

According to O2’s Palm Pre page, the phone will be free for users who pledge themselves to a £34.26 a month tariff with a 24-month contract, and to those who combine either a £44.05 a month tariff or a £73.41 a month tariff with an 18-month contract. Opting for a lower £29.38 a month tariff or a £34.26 a month tariff on an 18-month contract ups the 8GB Pre model to £96.89. All tariffs include an unlimited data (in the UK only) over O2’s high-speed HSDPA cellular network and unlimited access to 7,500 Wi-Fi hotspots at The Cloud and BT Openzone, including most Starbucks. All but the £29.38 a month tariff include 500 text messages, with 24.47p a message outside the bulk. There’s also an optional 500 message bundle for £7.34 a month. Each picture message sent (MMS) will count as four texts.

The carrier will also pitch Pre to corporate users. Businesses on tariffs from a £30.91 a month on a 24 or a 36-month contract get Pre for free. O2 offers a range of business tariffs to choose from. New business customers enjoy the same benefits as existing ones. including unlimited calls between O2 customers, unlimited calls to ten landlines, shareable minutes and texts between users plus multi-user billing and activation, as well as free, 24×7 access to business customer care, O2 said.

In addition to O2’s own retail spots and an online store, you can get a Pre through the Carphone Warehouse, Phones4U and select partners who are part of O2’s programme. The inductive-based Touchstone dock that allows connectionless phone charging will retail at £44.11 (the price includes the back Touchstone cover).

Eligible O2 customers, usually those who have a month or less left on their contract, will be able to upgrade to a Pre, O2 confirmed. The carrier is also taking the Pre exclusively to Ireland (October 16) and three days earlier to Germany (October 13). Details about terms, tariffs, and pricing in Ireland and Germany were not available at press time.

Read more in O2’s press release and Palm’s blog post.

Christian’s Opinion

I like that fact that Palm is taking the Pre to new geographies barely three months after its June U.S. debut. Most reports have painted the Pre launch a success, leaving many Europeans awaiting with anticipation. An increased footprint will expand the potential addressable market for the Pre and the webOS platform. App Catalog, the official application store for the webOS software, should go live any day with a fresh batch of free and paid Pre apps for download.

The touch-based Pre has a full sliding keyboard, comes with GPS, and works over 3G and WiFi networks. The phone sets itself apart from rival devices with the multitasking-enabled webOS operating system that runs apps written in common web technologies (HTML5, CSS, Javascript) inside cards which can be moved around with a flick of your finger. The phone features the same speedy ARM Cortex A8 processor that ticks inside the iPhone 3GS and Nokia N900. The webOS also packs in the unique Synergy feature that lets you link up all your diaries and contacts in one place.