Palm unveils Treo Pro to battle BlackBerry

Palm Inc had launched a Treo smartphone yesterday based on Microsoft Corp software that caters the business users and to compete against its rivals such as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.

The new Treo Pro will be sold by Vodafone Group Plc and 02 in Europe by September, and by Telstra in Australia. Palm does not still have an agreement in the United States as to who will caryy their product but it said that the demand for unlocked phones are growing and that can work on any network.

Lawrence Harris, CL King analyst said that the Treo Pro’s price tag of $549 is high without the subsidies typically offered by carriers to lock in subscribers.