iPhone rival Palm Pre to sell for $199 after rebate on June 6th

[AppleInsider]

Sprint Nextel Corp said Tuesday that Palm's much anticipate Pre smartphone will launch on its 3G network Saturday June 6th for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate.

The announcement comes amid increasing speculation from industry watchers who believe Apple, an established rival standing in Palm's path to regaining steep market share losses, may use its annual developers conference two days later to counter the PDA device maker's latest handset with its own line of updated iPhones.

Availability

Sprint says the Pre will be available nationwide in Sprint stores, Best Buy, Radio Shack, select Wal-Mart stores and online at Sprint.com. The carrier also took a pot-shot at rival wireless providers by claiming that the device will come with its value-oriented Everything Data plans that "offer savings of up to $1,430 over two years versus comparable AT&T and Verizon plans for smartphones and PDAs."

Calling plans

Upon closer inspection, however, it appears that Sprint based those comparisons on the unlimited minute options for Verizon PDA/Smartphone Nationwide Email & Messaging with the VZ Navigator add-on and AT&T's Nation plan with the addition of a PDA Personal Bundle and AT&T Navigator.

Sprint's cheapest "Everything Data" plan with unlimited data usage starts at $69.99 per month for 450 anytime minutes, essentially inline with AT&T's entry-level iPhone plan, but also includes unlimited MMS messaging. A plan with 900 minutes fetches $89.99 while a plan with unlimited data and voice -- Simply Everything -- costs $99.99.

The Pre handset

Listed among the Pre's features is a 3.1-inch touchscreen supplemented by a physical slide-out keyboard, 8GB of internal storage, GPS, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, 3-megapixel camera, and a removable battery. It will run and mark the debut of Palm's new webOS platform based on standard open web technologies such as CSS, XHTML, and JavaScript.

Among the software's highlights is Palm Synergy, a key feature that brings together a user's personal and professional calendar, contacts and e-mail into one centralized view, making transitions between work and personal applications easier to manage.

Unlike the iPhone, Palm has said that the Pre will run multiple apps at the same time, each one "seamlessly connected to the web and always active."*Using the device's multi-touch-like screen surface, users will be able to instantly flip from one app to another as if they were sifting through a deck of playing cards on a table."



"You can move back and forth between text messaging and e-mail, or search the web while you listen to music," the company said. "You can rearrange items simply by dragging them, and when you are done with something, just throw it away by flicking it off the top of the screen.

Each Pre comes with a charger in the box, but Palm will also market a $49.99 Touchstone charging dock, which it claims is the first inductive charging solution for phones, available exclusively for Pre. When bundled with a Touchstone back cover for Pre, the dock will sell for $69.99.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[teckstud]

Love the replaceable battery and the more than one app at a time feature.
Will the Pre come with a flash?

[ivan.rnn01]

until the Sprint exclusive deal ends!

[msantti]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Love the replaceable battery and the more than one app at a time feature. Will it have a flash?

We will soon find out how hot the multi-tasking thing really is on this thing.

It is good it has a removable battery. I think it will need it.

A key will be how well supported its app store will be.

Some knock AT&T.

Sprint doesn't smell like a rose either.

[Maury Markowitz]

I've been waiting for someone to point out a single killer feature on this phone for weeks now. Here we are, approaching launch, and I still haven't seen one. Let's see: it's fat and heavy, it's linked to Sprint who is widely derided as the worst US carrier, it has no apps (yet) and the company is short on cash.

Now we learn it doesn't even compete on price, until after a mail-in rebate? Mail in rebate? Are you joking?!

Dead.

Wait, here's something: "You can move back and forth between text messaging and e-mail, or search the web while you listen to music," the company said. "You can rearrange items simply by dragging them, and when you are done with something, just throw it away by flicking it off the top of the screen.

Wow! All the things I already do on my iPhone. No seriously, I can do every single one of those things right now. SMS comes up in a pop-up when you're in other apps, and the iPod plays under everything else.

Dead.

Maury

[msantti]

That said, if there were no iPhone, I would consider a Pre.

Of course, I somewhat think the Pre would not be this good if the iPhone did not exist.

[markb]

You can move back and forth between text messaging and e-mail, or search the web while you listen to music

...for the 5 minutes before the battery goes dead. Until there is some massive breakthrough in battery life or power consumption, push notification is a better model.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by msantti

We will soon find out how hot the multi-tasking thing really is on this thing.

It is good it has a removable battery. I think it will need it.

A key will be how well supported its app store will be.

Some knock AT&T.

Sprint doesn't smell like a rose either.

Battery life is important too. I agree Sprint is pretty bad but still need to read reviews on it and its Sprint signal before passing judgements.

[Adjei]

The price is 299, why do these companies always put these stupid rebates, if I go and buy the phone in store, I'm not paying 199, I'll be paying 299.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by Adjei

The price is 299, why do these companies always put these stupid rebates, if I go and buy the phone in store, I'm not paying 199, I'll be paying 299.

I'd rather take any stupid rebate from these companies than no rebate from Apple.
I hate rebates too but still prefer it to nothing or $100 off the company's products.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Battery life is important too. I agree Sprint is pretty bad but still need to read reviews on it and its Sprint signal before passing judgements.

I had them for about 3 years and it wasn't anything special to say the least. I really haven't run into a cell phone provider that I thought was simply amazing nor have I really run into one that's God-Awful. I've had really good results w/ AT&T and they even have 3G now in my hometown of 5k (when I go to visit) so I guess that's about as good as I can ask for. I'd say they are obviously lacking in something because if you're offering plans $20 cheaper (check the unlimited MMS included) then you're trying to steal customers based on price and as we all know on this forum the way to make up for a substandard product is to make it cheaper than it's competitors...

That $100 mail-in-rebate is crap too...

You get a $200-$300 instant rebate when you buy an iPhone. You can either get a $199 iPhone w/ no mail in rebate or you can get a $299 Pre and wait for the extra $100 to come back to you. Sounds like a no-brainer... Also, you're going to pay tax on that extra $100 and you certainly aren't going to get that back.

[melgross]

Originally Posted by italiankid

the Palm Pre is hot.

HOT HOT HOT.

its the only other phone that I want... Can't wait till it comes to Canada.

I will switch from the iPhone....

We knew that.

[cozagada]

Looking at the webOS book, I have to say I'm quite excited about the Pre. Check the introduction on multitasking :
http://developer.palm.com/webos_book/book3.html

I don't see why leaving one window open on one email while typing a new email in another window would consume more battery if the system is done right.

[All Day Breakfast]

I suspect that Pre will be an interesting phone but solidly in the tradition that iPhone invented. Hard to know on a practical level how it will function until there's hands' on experience. It may make a small dent in prospective iPhone buyers but more likely it will only help grow the smart phone market and the big 3 in this space all gain (RIMM, Apple, Android). iPhone sales certainly won't be going down anytime soon. Competition is good for Apple though unlike other companies it doesn't rest on its laurals. Palm is in trouble however on their financials. I read an analysis that said Palm would need to sell 8 million Pre in year 1 just to stay in business. Would Msoft be interested in buying this company? Gruber thinks their getting ready to buy RIM but I think palm. Msoft have nothing to compete with in this space and seemingly incapable of engineering one.

On an aesthetic note I think it (Pre) looks a bit stodgy.

[Adjei]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I'd rather take any stupid rebate from these companies than no rebate from Apple.
I hate rebates too but still prefer it to nothing or $100 off the company's products.

An iphone is 199 when you buy it in the store, this phone is 299. The Pre needs a rebate, lol.

[hillstones]

So where are the "2-year contract" complainers? Wow, and it includes a keyboard for midgets, and the slide out keyboard is not even in landscape mode.

Replaceable battery, give me a break. No one stocks up on cell phone batteries, and most of you dump the phone after a year when something better comes out anyway. My Razr worked great, and I never had to replace the battery, and I had the phone for 2 years before I got the iPhone. The only problem: the battery cover would never sit right on the back of the phone. The iPhone battery lasts longer than the Razr battery. I had an old Nokia phone that had a slide-on clip battery that had enough play in it that it would disconnect power whenever it moved. The only solution was taping it to the phone. Replacement batteries had the same problem. So in my opinion, removable batteries suck.

[VinitaBoy]

The "Pre" is V-A-P-O-R-W-A-R-E! It's still a promise, a dream, a phantom, a wisp. Nothing more.

So it "looks good"? Big f-ing deal! Has anyone actually touched or used this thing for longer than 10 seconds? It's a Potemkin Village, folks! It's all facade, smoke, and mirrors!

Tell me: How well does that touch screen actually work? How rugged is it? Battery life good with all those background tasks running all the time? Will you need a bandolero of them for a day's calling and "computing"? How's the reception on the Sprint network? Moreover, how's the Sprint network itself? Hate AT&T and Verizon's coverage? Then you're absolutely going to convulse over Sprint's!

Gonna save some money with this device? Yeah? Not if there aren't any useful, rock-solid applications for it. Not if the service and support after the sale aren't there. Palm is on its way DOWN, ladies and gentlement. The slightest misstep with this phone, and it's GONE.

A TRUISM OF THE ELECTRONICS INDUSTRY: Never, never, never buy anything with a zero on the end of its version number. Now, let's see. The "Pre" is coming out with NO real-world testing by anyone and usage information from no one--and it's in Version 1.0. GOOD LUCK, people. Believe the dream. Maybe this beleaguered company can pull the first miracle in history and release a perfect device the first time.

The grass is always greener on the other side. Always. Until you get there and taste it. (Here's to the BlackBerry Storm, Vista, Windows 7, cars that run on water, the free lunch, and "the check's in the mail.")

[GTL215]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I'd rather take any stupid rebate from these companies than no rebate from Apple.
I hate rebates too but still prefer it to nothing or $100 off the company's products.

so for an 8gb iPhone, you'd rather shell out $300 up front, then wait for your 100 bucks to come back in the mail....rather than just pay $200 and be done? Makes sense.....

Didn't the Pre CEO (or sprint CEO, i forget) make some snively comment such as, "why would we price it the same as an iPhone when we have the better product"? HA what a shithead. Is a mail-in rebate his idea of pricing the Pre higher? Gimmie a break.

[bonklers]

8GB seems too little. If rumors are true, then the new iphone will have 16GB memory, wireless-n and much more for $199.
the one thing iphone lacks is being able to run 1 background app like music streaming, but i hear that if you jailbreak it then you can do that too!

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by bigmc6000

That $100 mail-in-rebate is crap too...

You get a $200-$300 instant rebate when you buy an iPhone. You can either get a $199 iPhone w/ no mail in rebate or you can get a $299 Pre and wait for the extra $100 to come back to you. Sounds like a no-brainer... Also, you're going to pay tax on that extra $100 and you certainly aren't going to get that back.

Good try but that statement is absolutely FALSE.
I know you didn't invent this falacy but perhaps your drink is extra spiked this morning?

[GTL215]

Originally Posted by hillstones

Replaceable battery, give me a break.

Couldn't agree more. Apple takes crap from everyone regarding their built-in batteries in their products, yet we see every other company follow suit. Apple, once again, thinking different and innnovating in the marketplace while everyone else sits on the sidelines.

[GTL215]

Originally Posted by teckstud

Good try but that statement is absolutely FALSE.
I know you didn't invent this falacy but perhaps your drink is extra spiked this morning?

sorry teckstud but he's right. I'm not sure where he's getting that $200-300 figure, but it's definitely a joke to pay the extra $100 up front, including tax, then wait for a rebate.

[trip1ex]

Looks good on paper.

[pmz]

The Pre is hideous looking. Sorry, 2 years on an iPhone and I can't even entertain the idea of such a half-assed "competitor".

June 6th release? Ha are you kidding me? This is called, "Whatever we do, it has to be on sale before WWDC, or we won't sell ANY of them."

At least they'll get a few Pandora suckers to drop $300 + 2 year Sprint contract on it.

Originally Posted by iStink

The rebate from sprint takes about a month. I've done it twice. So long as you mail it in (I'm sure we all remember how to use snail mail right? ) they process it pretty quickly.

The only info you send in is a COPY (not the actual) of the reciept, along with some form u fill out. It's not like rebates I find on newegg where I have to cut out my upc from the box.



omg dude. Seriously? Could you rage any harder? Your fanboy grease is seeping through your pores. Apples are just pooring out of your *** aren't they?

Calm the **** down. I don't understand why anyone with an iphone is getting SO worked up over the pre. Do you like your phone? Yes? Then why the **** do you care what another phone offers? Did it ever occur to you that the iphone would heavily influence it's surrounding market, and phones like this were inevitable?

Can we not turn this thread into an iphone vs pre discussion, yet again. It's repetitive, it gets nowhere (since nobody actually owns a pre yet) and it's down right silly. The Pre is just one of many cool phones coming out this year.

When tegra is announced, will everyone **** their pants then too?

Relax. Its hilarious to some people to see people clamoring for "more", and thinking the Palm Pre is it. Its hilarious because it couldn't be more wrong. Everyone knows it, except the people that are constant victims of advertising. And the release date? I'm telling you right now, it was CRITICAL that they launch this product before the announcement of the new iPhone. This was the best they do, logistically. 2 days.

This product will sell about 100,000 units, over 2 days, then yes its DEAD, thanks to iPhone 3.

[cozagada]

Originally Posted by iStink

Can we not turn this thread into an iphone vs pre discussion, yet again.

I couldn't agree more

[Quadra 610]

First it has to be released, and Palm needs to be able to manage it. Then it has to actually sell enough to keep Palm afloat. The it has to actually work as it should, unlike the hyped-to-hell Storm that turnd out to be a dud.

It won't really matter anyway. The whole game is being changed again in June with the next iPhone. And then everyone else can go back to the drawing-board again.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by GTL215

Couldn't agree more. Apple takes crap from everyone regarding their built-in batteries in their products, yet we see every other company follow suit. Apple, once again, thinking different and innnovating in the marketplace while everyone else sits on the sidelines.

Pre is following Apple with a replaceable battery?
If anything, Palm is responding to the public/corporate outcry for one.

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by ivan.rnn01

until the Sprint exclusive deal ends!

there are already rumors that Palm is going to have a model for Verizon later this year

[MacTripper]

Normally I would have a Apple fanboy kneejerk reaction to anything non-Apple.

but having seen the Pre now, with it's more mature look and feel compared to the candy looking iPhone

did I mention a real keyboard?

might be my next phone, but alas I can't seem to give up my cheap pay as I go phone.

I got a Macbook Pro and internet, I'm not mobile enough. I live in the country.

will they last? I don't think so, the market is flooded.

but then I said that about Apple and the iPhone.

what do I know...?

[paxman]

The Pre looks good and may do well. I doubt it will impact on the iPhone much. I won't get one but if I was given one I'd use it. I have no problem with the Pre joining in the game.

[Maury Markowitz]

Originally Posted by msantti

That said, if there were no iPhone, I would consider a Pre.

Of course, I somewhat think the Pre would not be this good if the iPhone did not exist.

Indeed; it's not surprising that there were zero touch-screen phones on the market before Apple, and now 8 of the top 10 sellers are touch-screen. Apple created this market.

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by iStink

Being able to replace the battery is an attractive feature. For example, if you're traveling for an extended period of time, and you've got a fully charged spare battery, it's nice to just pop it in and go after the first battery is drained.

Not a key feature everyone looks for, but not a bad one either.

Apple says you don't need it and it's not necessary- stop complaining and defending it!
(I thought I would pre-empt solipism on this one)

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by iStink

Really? What will the new iphone have that will "change the game"? Please link me to where you can confirm this and it's not hearsay...

Texting!
Video!
Better plastic!

[teckstud]

Originally Posted by al_bundy

there are already rumors that Palm is going to have a model for Verizon later this year

Yes- 6 months supposedly after its release,it goes to Verizon. Did Palm make a CDMA version as well?

[guinness]

The only problem I see, is that it's on Sprint, and they are probably the worst of the major 4 carriers in the US.

[al_bundy]

Originally Posted by Maury Markowitz

I've been waiting for someone to point out a single killer feature on this phone for weeks now. Here we are, approaching launch, and I still haven't seen one. Let's see: it's fat and heavy, it's linked to Sprint who is widely derided as the worst US carrier, it has no apps (yet) and the company is short on cash.

Now we learn it doesn't even compete on price, until after a mail-in rebate? Mail in rebate? Are you joking?!

Dead.

Wait, here's something: "You can move back and forth between text messaging and e-mail, or search the web while you listen to music," the company said. "You can rearrange items simply by dragging them, and when you are done with something, just throw it away by flicking it off the top of the screen.

Wow! All the things I already do on my iPhone. No seriously, I can do every single one of those things right now. SMS comes up in a pop-up when you're in other apps, and the iPod plays under everything else.

Dead.

Maury

it's supposed to run any app designed for previous palm devices which is around 80,000 from what i heard. and porting apps to it is supposed to be easy and 4000 iphone apps are supposed to be ready for it by next month or so

[melgross]

Originally Posted by teckstud

I'd rather take any stupid rebate from these companies than no rebate from Apple.
I hate rebates too but still prefer it to nothing or $100 off the company's products.

You may not get the rebate. That's why they offer it that way.

Believe me, I know. I used to be on Sprint. Half of the rebates they refused to give me, even though I was very careful to do exactly what was demanded.

With one, they said that I sent it in too late, even thought I did it online, the very same day. Another time they said that I didn't fill one out correctly, even though I had made a copy, and showed them that I did.

Another time, I was told that I would be given a new phone for one that was broken, and that I should go back to the Sprint store I bought it from, only to have the manager of the store tell me that they didn't have to do what the Sprint telephone reps said they should.

Believe me, Sprint is not a wonderful place to be at.

If they're offering this with a $100 rebate, I guarantee that a fair number of people won't get it, or will have a hell of a time getting it. That's the whole point of rebates.

It used to be that when I sent rebate info in to companies that do that for the sellers, I always got my money. But increasingly over the past few years, that hasn't been so. You really have to fight for it, and so I usually rather buy something that hasn't got a rebate, from a place that has lower prices, but not as low as it would be with a rebate. I figure that over the long haul, I'm doing just as well with a lot less frustration.

As far as this phone goes, the only possible advantage seems to be concurrent programs—if it works as well as they say it does, which is something no one knows yet because they haven't allowed it out of the lab except for a couple of short, controlled excursions.

The upper row of keys is too close to the overhanging bottom of the body of the device, something that was mentioned by two reporters allowed to use it for a few minutes under supervision. The screen is quite a bit smaller that the one in the iPhone. 3.1" vs 3.5" may not sound too different, but it is.

At the same price as the current 8 GB iPhone when you, hopefully, get your rebate back from Sprint, it may not be much of a deal either. After all, despite what you say about getting rebates over Apple not giving any, you forget (conveniently, it seems) that this phone WITH the rebate costs the same as Apple's 8 GB model WITHOUT the rebate, and without the rebate (which you may not get), it costs the same as Apple's 16 GB model. Not very impressive. It's very possible that Apple will offer a $199 model with 16 GB and a $299 model with 32 GB this summer on top of that.

If so, how are they going to make money on this without having to drop the price further? If they have to do that, someone will take a big loss. Neither Palm or Sprint can afford that now, with both losing customers at such high rates, along with currently having large losses.

[Hudson1]

Originally Posted by GTL215

sorry teckstud but he's right. I'm not sure where he's getting that $200-300 figure, but it's definitely a joke to pay the extra $100 up front, including tax, then wait for a rebate.

Maybe I'm the only one but I had no qualms about buying a printer from the Apple store with my last two Mac purchases and then waiting (not long) for my $100 rebate from Apple.

[al_bundy]

my work BB is on sprint, wife's work BB is on verizon and she has an iphone

in NYC sprint it flaky. i can walk down the street and go to 2G, walk a few more blocks and back to 3G. but there are more spots in the subway underground where i can get a signal. speed is about the same as AT&T. once in a while i'll try to pull a youtube video from my BB and my wife's iphone and performance is usually bad on both of them.

not because of the network, but youtube has to go back to google's servers. it's not staged around the internet like a lot of other content.

[bigmc6000]

Originally Posted by Hudson1

Maybe I'm the only one but I had no qualms about buying a printer from the Apple store with my last two Mac purchases and then waiting (not long) for my $100 rebate from Apple.

The point is they are going up against the iPhone and the iPhone is $199 w/out having to submit for a mail in rebate whereas the Pre is only $199 after the mail in rebate. If you could have had those printers at the same time for the post mail-in rebate price (and not having to pay the tax on that increased price) wouldn't you rather do that?

Also, I was basing the $200-$300 on how much they charge you for the phone w/out the 2 year agreement (I couldn't remember which one it was so I went w/ the range).