Palm Pre coming to O2 next week?

The Palm Pre smartphone is coming to the UK and it will be shipping under exclusive contract on O2. It’s not the first time that O2 has been tied to the Palm Pre. We’re expecting the Palm Pre to be announced in the UK on 7th July along with expected shipping dates and pricing. Find out all the details on the Palm Pre after the jump..

The Palm Pre is coming to the UK and we’re expecting it to launch on the 7th July. According to a news story being circulated by the Guardian newspaper, O2 has fought off stiff competition from Orange and will release the Palm Pre under exclusive contract here in the UK.

If this turns out to be true, then O2 will have a major slice of the high-end smartphone market here in the UK, as it already holds the Apple iPhone 3G S under exclusive contract.

Check out our guide to the Palm Pre tech spec and image gallery

The Palm Pre is claimed to be the company’s last ditch attempt to make an impact on the smartphone industry. Palm originally started life as a PDA company but as so far failed to make any headway in the more lucrative connected device space.

The Palm Pre runs its own webOS operating system and come with a 3.1-inch touchscreen, as well as a slide out QWERTY keyboard. At the time of writing, the Palm Pre has not officially been announced as supporting GSM networks here in the UK.

The initial launch in the US has led to sales of 300,000 units with Palm finding it difficult to meet demand, so even if the Palm Pre is announced next week, there is no telling when it will actually ship in sufficient numbers.