O2 is to gain the Palm Pre smartphone to run alongside the Apple iPhone. But could the Palm Pre replace the iPhone? Itproportal has come up with five reasons why this won’t happen.

Firstly there is Apple’s huge marketing clout to consider; in 2008 Apple spent some $486 million on advertising. Palm doesn’t have that kind of clout so it will probably be left to O2.

Secondly there is the wealth of mobile applications in the Apple iTunes App Store which has already seen 1 billion downloads. Palm is expected to launch an App Store but judging by the slowness to release the Palm pre don’t expect to see the store this year.

Thirdly, as with most smartphones on launch the Palm Pre is not perfect, there’s no HSPA version and only has 8GB of memory, and there are whispers the Pre won’t be able to answer calls whilst surfing the internet.

Fourthly, sales, O2 shifts some 60,000 iPhone per month on average in the UK; can the Palm Pre do as well?

And lastly is the price, currently the Palm Pre sits at about the same price as the iPhone 3G, but if the new iPhone should appear with a lower price tag then the Pre will probably fade into mobile oblivion.