Palm Inc. and Sprint-Nextel Corp. got together on Thursday to give the world new details of the Palm Pre, which is supposed to put Palm back in the game after being relegated to Old School status by the Apple iPhone. But the two biggest elements to the announcement were missing: cost and launch date. And, they lost their thunder to Apple Inc., which said Thursday it will hold a special event on St, Patrick’s Day in Cupertino, Calif., to show off an advance preview of the iPhone 3.0 software.
Palm and Sprint did acknowledge the device would arrive in the first half of the year. If Apple’s timing for iPhone 3.0’s commercial launch is the same as it was for the iPhone 2.0, then it’s lining up for a collision course with the arrival of the Palm Pre.
Why is this significant? For one, the iPhone is the device that launched a thousand – well, OK, a lot – of wannabes. None of its competitors have managed to duplicate its success, including the BlackBerry Storm and the Google G1 from T-Mobile USA Inc.. But Palm has a chance to give Apple a scare, given its rabid fan base, embedded base of developers and a shiny new operating system, called webOS, that has garnered rave reviews so far. In any event, an Apple 3.0/Palm Pre summer rumble in the jungle-style face-off is sure to be interesting to watch, given the conventional wisdom.
But during Thursday’s Webcast, Palm and Sprint did little to whip up the anticipation, it must be said. Details offered included the fact that Pre would carry Sprint's "Everything" plans – in fact, unlimited-data service will be required.
It was also revealed that Palm will not license webOS.
And functionality-wise, Pre would launch with “casual gaming applications” and a set of standard open APIs so Web services like Facebook and the Pandora Internet radio app can quickly write for the Pre.
