Click to View

Last week, we reported that Verizon Wireless finally started offering the palmOne Treo 600 smartphone. However, only business users could buy the device. This week, the wireless giant has started selling the smartphone to consumers as well.

Verizon is selling the Treo 600 for $500 with a one-year contract, $450 with a two-year contract and $600 by itself. They are also offering a $100 rebate to some of those who already subscribe to Verizon's wireless service.

The company is offering the edition of the Treo 600 with a VGA camera, and like competitor Sprint, plans to deliver a version of the smartphone without a camera later on. Many companies prefer that their employees own mobile devices without cameras for security reasons.

Other than the lack of a camera, the camera-less version of the Treo 600 is the same as the one with a camera. It features a QWERTY thumb keyboard, a 144MHz processor, 32 MB of memory (24 MB available for end user storage), built-in speakerphone, customizable buttons and a five-way navigation button. The device measures 4.41 x 2.26 x .87 inches and weighs a little over 6 ounces.

Top U.S. Smartphone Platform

Several operating system platforms, including Windows Mobile, Symbian and the Palm operating system, are battling it out in the smartphone market. While the Palm platform isn't a major player in most of the world, a report a couple of months back by the NPD Group places it as the leading smartphone platform for the third straight month in the United States.

According to NPD, Palm OS smartphones this March exceeded Microsoft and Symbian Series 60 market share combined. NPD's data on the U.S. smartphone market gave the Palm OS a 47 percent market share, an increase of 13 points from January. Microsoft (the combination of Pocket PC Phone Edition and Microsoft Smartphone) and Symbian Series 60 tied with 20 percent market share each. Series 60 is the most common type of smartphone based on the Symbian platform.

NPD said rising sales of the Treo 600 smartphone from palmOne and continued success of Kyocera and Samsung Palm OS smartphones contributed to the Palm platform's success. Verizon position as the top U.S. carrier should boost the already high profile of the Treo 600.