Lost in the list of HP WebOS product announcements yesterday was the barely-newsworthy announcement that HP was bringing the Pre 2 to Verizon. While we were fairly positive about elements of the Pre 2 in our own review, we were pretty adamant in our position that the Pre 2 is not a phone worthy of consideration in the smartphone market of 2011. The original launch of the Pre 2 last fall included the curious announcement that it would come to Verizon soon. It seemed odd that Verizon would carry the Pre 2 at all, but as time went on a number of people just assumed those plans were dead. They're not. They're very much alive in a terrifyingly zombie-like fashion.
It turns out that the Pre 2 is now available for pre-order and will start shipping on Feb. 17. Neither HP nor Verizon seem terribly concerned that the Pre 2 hardware is embarrassingly dated or that the Pre Plus (nearly the same phone) didn't sell well last year. They also don't seem bothered by the fact that the Pre 3 is slated for a release this summer, possibly just 4 or 5 months away. They apparently made a deal and darn it, they're going to follow through!
Now imagine anyone who doesn't read PreCentral on a regular basis walks into a Verizon store. They see the Pre 2 occupying the same long-neglected spot on the wall where the Pre Plus sat the last time they were in there. They immediately forget glancing in that direction, though, as they're already captivated by the iPhone 4 or a super-sized Android phone. They then buy one of those real phones and move on with their lives. Is anyone going to buy the Pre 2? If they do, how completely screwed over will they feel if in the summer they see that the Pre 3 is available with much better performance and a more usable, larger screen?
There is no way that the sales of the Pre 2 will be able to make up for a loss of consumer confidence, wrought from either buyer's remorse or brand dismissal. By this summer, will anyone on Verizon be willing to give HP and WebOS a shot?