Palm: Pré to launch on 6 June

The Pré smartphone will launch on 6 June, Palm has officially confirmed. Palm_Pre_001 Palm's Pré will launch in the US next month Palm said this morning that North American customers will be charged $200 (£129/€146) for the device – what you've paid after you've received the proceeds of a $100 mail-in rebate coupon. You'll …

[Tom Chiverton]

Apps

If this thing has a half sensible range of apps (SSH a must, Java based is fine) I'm sold.

Ace.

[Don S.]

Saving Pre Ryan

On d-day? Really?

[ray k]

hurry up

dear palm,

hurry up with uk pre

lots of love,

uk

[1865]

Not pretty

Man, dat UGLY!

[Kajiki]

Can't wait

My current phone has an estimated trade-in value of £4 (according to carphonewarehouse). Think the time is right to move on.

[Keith Spencer]

Lawyer Alert

Eh. So the Apple lawyers will be ready to pounce on the 7th then. Palm better have absolutely solid IP on this one itherwise Apple will drive them out of business I fancy. Looks good from an interface point of view. Phone itself is OK, just not as pretty as the jaysus phone. Good lukc Palm. You'll need it!

[Rhys Vincent]

Contract length of 2 years?

If the same type of deal is struck in the UK (with Orange no doubt, Vodafone = Blackberry, O2 = the iPhone (aka the iHavenoindividuality) as with Sprint in the US, then this enticing phone will be stuck with a 2yr contract??

Not quite so enticing.

Why do the networks ensist on increasing these contract periods when the speed at which technology advances grows nearly exponentially?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh Ya

Oh so looking forward to the UK release, my 680 is getting a ltl tatty. I still get the "Oh thats a nice phone what is it?" questions even though it is years old Palm Build quality FTW.

Come on Palm before i'm forced to get a G1 instead.

[jai]

how much?

so it's 300 bucks?

so three times the price of an iPhone 3G

does it have 3 times the features?

[Alastair]

Very interested in this one

I've currently got a 2G iPhone I bought used from some sucker that upgraded the day the 3G came out... it's good. No, it's great. But the EDGE connection is so, so slow. I'd upgrade to a 3G iPhone, but it's just not that much of a difference- it's hard to justify signing up for a two year commitment just so that I can get my e-mails a little faster.

So the Pre might be the one for me- or will it be the new iPhone, surely to be released at the end of June? I'm not buying till I see both.

[ffrankmccaffery]

Heres hoping

That they are as an earlier poster has mentioned on sound IP grounds and also that orange will be offering this too. The symbian run nokia im using here just doesnt cut it and the iphone and google phones are not even worth considering.

[Bod]

@jai

Erm, where are you getting a *new* (not refurb) iPhone 3G for $100 ?

[h]

What if...

the day Palm launches the Pre, with its 2 year lock-in with Sprint, Apple starts selling unlocked iPhones? Even for $400?

[Nigel Whitfield]

Would Apple sue, or license?

I have my doubts about whether Apple would want to sue them into oblivion.

Palm as a company has a pretty strong following out there, despite its mis-steps over the years, and there's been quite a buzz around the Pre.

If Apple were to sue, given Palm's precarious position, about the only possible outcome is that Palm would fold, even if Apple's suit had little merit in end. And would Apple really, really want to be seen as the company that put the final nail in Palm's coffin?

Aside from being seen as a (possibly overdue, depending on your view) executioner for a long established brand that still has fans, wouldn't they also attract a lot of hostility for being seen to deliberately stop what many people see as a viable competitor to the iPhone?

Suing Palm has the potential to be a massive PR disaster for Apple. A deal on patent licensing, or perhaps buying the company, would seem more rational, and without the potential PR downsides (as long as they don't buy Palm just to kill the Pre)