Telefonica is no doubt pleased to have secured the next-great-smart-phone-after-the-iPhone. However, we can’t help feeling that it may have scored itself something of an own-goal.

While the Palm Pre, with its internet-inspired webOS, looks an interesting concept (we haven’t had a chance to use it ourselves), we’re left wondering how it will compete with the iPhone on the same turf.

For one thing, the two devices will be competing for the same customers. For another, the iPhone is more than a mere poster child for applications on phones and handset integration with the web: it’s the benchmark.

It’s not just consumers that think that. Developers do to. Where Apple’s App Store long ago surpassed 1 billion downloads and 50,000 apps, the Pre looks less well loved: at launch on Sprint’s US network, 18 applications were available in the Palm App Catalog with 1 million downloads its most recent milestone (Ovum doesn’t think emulation of old Palm OS apps counts).

If you’re a Telefonica customer in the UK, Ireland or Spain and you’re in the market for an iPhone-style experience the iPhone still looks the better bet. Even a heavily subsidized Palm Pre will do well to win the hand of high-end consumers when faced with the two devices side by side. Although some long-in-the-tooth Palm aficionados may be tempted.

Given its early stage of evolution, Palm would have been better off with a European telco partner that isn’t already beholden to Apple. Offering the two devices side by side, looks like a one-sided fight to us, and potentially one that puts the webOS cat back in the bag before without really lifting its head out (O2 Germany, where the iPhone isn’t present, should offer it more opportunities).