Palm Pre - Availability

The Palm Pre isn’t available at the time of this writing, but it should be available in the first half of 2009. The first launched devices will only be available in CDMA, though a GSM version will certainly appear later on in the year. Sprint has already picked up this phone at launch. I’m sure others will jump on this as well.

Sprint will have the phone for a rumored $199 with new activation, and the phone will cost $399 without new activation. The price point puts it right in the hunt with all the other big name smartphones, like the iPhone, Blackberry and many Windows Mobile devices. Palm hopes to sell 1.5 million Pres in the first year, a very aggressive but obtainable number.

Conclusion

Palm has been in a long time rut since other manufacturers started competing with smartphones. Palm’s market share has plummeted, and the company was ever so close to closing the doors for good. Back to the drawing board Palm went and started from scratch. Their new Pre is like no other Palm device ever made. From clunky and slow to sleek and fast went the hardware. From disarray to fluid went the OS. Everything about the Pre and WebOS is new and improved. The only question left unanswered is, will this save Palm?