The various preDevCamp community developer meet-ups have now been scheduled for Saturday, June 13th. The community organized event will gather interested webOS/Pre developers in various locations around the planet. The announcement also comes with a bit of controversy as a dispute became public concerning the chief organizers and various staff at Palm Inc.

We've fought an uphill struggle with Palm as they tried to make up their minds as to whether they wanted to support this community or not. Unfortunately, Palm doesn't quite understand the value of a community like preDevCamp and, having cut back and forth for quite some time, have finally made it clear that they have no interest in actively supporting preDevCamp.

A site called PalmGoon.com has apparently managed to get their hands on a Palm Pre (or the SDK emulator) and have been posting a series of articles and screenshots from the device. (via engadget.) The articles detail a number of the apps on the device including the web browser, memos and tasks as well as some previously undocumented features. (At the moment the site is under heavy volume and access has been sporadic.)

Highlights include confirmation that the device can perform an automatic daily online backup, there is a built in device updater app, a first use guide and that a user has to create a "Palm Profile" when setting up the device. We've mirrored a couple of screenshots after the break.

Engadget has posted what looks like a screen-grab of an internal Sprint document detailing some Palm Pre training. Half of the slide is blocked, however it does show a list of WebOS applications for the Pre that will be "available at or near launch."

The list includes some previously featured titles and other unknowns such as: Pandora, EA, SGN, Craig's List, Sling Media, DirectTV, Facebook, MySpace, Match.com, Loopt, Twitter, City Search, Zagat, Fandango, MovieTickets.com, Lonely Planet, FlightView, NYTimes, AP Mobile, ESPN, Handmark Stocks, Bank of America, Intuit, Epocrates, WebMD, Salesforce.com, Austin Lane, DataViz and Mark/Sapce. The full screenshot is mirrored after the break.

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Even though we finally have the long awaited Palm Pre release date and price, the rumors continue at a steady pace. With the launch details in hand, demand high and inventory expectations being sculpted, people are naturally beginning to wonder what actual the stock situation will be like on day one.

Some rumors have been starting to trickle out with numbers and details. The BGR has two such reports concerting Best Buy locations. The first claims that the retail chain's launch allotment is about 4,000 units and if evenly distributed nationwide would work out to something like 4 units per store. Furthermore, another report details that Best Buy does not expect the Pre to be available in volume until tentatively late July/ early August.

Gartner has released their latest quarterly report on worldwide mobile phone sales. iIn the first quarter of 2009 worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 269.1 million units, a 8.6 per cent decrease from the first quarter of 2008. Smartphone sales surpassed 36.4 million units, a 12.7 per cent increase from the same period last year.

"Much of the smartphone growth during the first quarter of 2009 was driven by touchscreen products, both in midtier and high-end devices," said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner, based in Egham, UK. "'Touch for the sake of touch' was enough of a driver in the midtier space, but tighter integration with applications and services around music, mobile e-mail, and Internet browsing made the difference at the high end of the market."

Retail giant Best Buy has weathered the economic storm far better than most rival electronics retailers, arguably due to implementing customer-friendly perks such as the Reward Zone gift certificate program and banishing mail-in rebates in 2005. With the earlier confirmation that they will be offering the Pre with a guaranteed $100 instant rebate at the time of purchase, Best Buy looks to be the most appealing initial destination for would-be Pre owners.

The Boy Genius Report has just posted a short Q&A with Scott Anderson, director of merchandising at Best Buy Mobile. In short, Mr. Anderson confirmed that every one of the nearly 1000 Best Buy Mobile stores will carry the Palm Pre beginning June 6th, though he declined to comment on how many units each store would stock.

The Boy Genius Report has just posted documentation that Sprint stores will be opening early on June 6th for the launch of the Palm Pre. Stores will close early on Friday, June 5th at 4pm presumably to prepare for the Pre onslaught.

On launch day Saturday, June 6th, Sprint retail stores will open at 8am. As noted before Sprint will sell the Pre for $199, after a 2-year service agreement and $100 mail in rebate. It's unclear at this point if Best Buy or Wall-Mart locations offering the Pre will have any special hours or promotions for the launch as well.

The Palm Pre has received FCC approval ahead of its launch on June 6th. As is standard for any radio device in the US, this is one of the final milestones a handset much pass before it can be offered for sale in the US.

The related FCC documents and test reports can be found here and here. The usual diagrams and schematics information will not be posted online as Palm has submitted a confidentiality request that they be withheld indefinitely. The usual user manual, photos and disassembly pics are being withheld for 180 days. For the curious, all that is available at this point are the product labels and various SAR (Specific Absorption Rate) test reports.

Sprint is already expecting long lines and short supply for the Palm Pre launch on June 6th. Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse told an investor conference on Tuesday that the company is expecting to have trouble meeting the initial demand for the highly anticipated device.

"We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while," Hesse said according to a Thomson Reuters transcript. "We won't be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time."

While yesterday's main news event was the 1-2 punch of a firm release date and pricing information from Sprint, one additional Pre tidbit also emerged.

According to Precentral, the full retail price of the Pre without any subsidy or contract extension is going to be $549.99. While that is still a bit on the high side compared to recent unlocked Palm GSM devices, it's on par with Palm's traditional retail pricing for CDMA devices. To users currently entangled in a contract, the $999 Pre retail price indicated by Best Buy earlier this month thankfully appears to just be a placeholder.