Comments on: Sprint's CEO Talks Pre Release Date

RCR Wireless News has posted a Q&A interview with Sprint CEO Dan Hesse. Of course they brought up the question on everyone's mind lately... When is the Palm Pre release date? Unfortunately he did not disclose a definitive timeframe or date, however he does elaborate somewhat on the planning and preparations that are underway for the Pre's launch.

We haven't announced that. [Pre's release date] The plan of both companies is to have it on the market in the first half of the year. Obviously when you're bringing out a new device with this level of sophistication and functionality there's a lot of work required. The guys at Palm are working 24/7 and we're working 24/7 to bring it out as soon as we can.

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two things

SeldomVisitor @ 2/26/2009 3:13:30 PM #

Though those words are about as ambigupus as one could get, the fact he's still talking two different important things in a "they're not fone yet" fashion suggests months more, IMHO.

The two things? (1) getting Pre right and (2) arranging for enough to be made.

RE: two things

SeldomVisitor @ 2/26/2009 3:14:16 PM #

Gotta stop typin i the dark..."ambiguous" and "done"...

RE: two things

Tuckermaclain @ 2/26/2009 3:46:22 PM #

First half of the year? I think they padded the release date even in their best case scenario. Having been a Palm user for some years I humbly suggest that this is similar to the earlier Cobalt release statements. Better late and good rather than on time and beta, I think. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if Palm sh*ts the bed in the next few months and there will be one working Pre floating around to complement the one working color Handera 330 that somebody has. This is not the best economic environment to d*ck around in. Palm is starting to raise concern by delaying release.

RE: two things

twrock @ 2/26/2009 3:58:48 PM #

...the one working color Handera 330 that somebody has.

I have one and I know that at least one other person had one. So there are at least double the number you said. ;-)

"twrock is infamous around these parts" (from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)

release date

D Avis @ 2/26/2009 7:52:01 PM #

After following the relaese date rumors I stopped by my sprint store and talked to the manager. He is not the normal CS drone people are sourcing but someone deeply interest in smartphones and with Sprint quite some time. He wasn't rrying to sell me somthign esle because he knows my contract is up in October.

He said ALL the rumors were coming from people confusing the Pre with the Pro and that there isn't going to be a Pre for months as Sprint has been strongly suggesting anyway.

He said his guess was Pre will come in under the Pro, at $150 to $200 and that recent iPhone price pressure on price was already something he noted.

He said he was optomistic about the Pre, with his only concern being about the limit to 8GB of onboard memory whcih can't be expanded.

RE: release date

jca666us @ 2/26/2009 11:12:42 PM #

Except for Colligan's statement that the Pre being "significantly better" that the iphone - implying that it would be priced higher than the iphone.

It certainly wouldn't be above Apple to squeeze Palm by dropping their prices in a few months - to make way for the new and improved iphone.

Right now, an 8 gig iphone costs $199, while 16 gig costs $299.

If an 8 gig Pre comes in any higher than $249 then Palm is toast.

RE: release date

SeldomVisitor @ 2/27/2009 4:26:48 AM #

I think Colligan was on a high (due to the CES show reception) when he made that "better phone" statement; reality is now setting in.

I'd be totally surprised if the Pre is sold for anything more than $200.

And sold for anything more than $200 UP-FRONT.

Making someone pay $300 up-front then wait for a rebate ain't gonna fly.

RE: release date

bhartman34 @ 2/27/2009 7:04:27 AM #

I think Colligan was on a high (due to the CES show reception) when he made that "better phone" statement; reality is now setting in.

Aside from the 16GB capacity, and a screen that's larger by .4 inches, where exactly does the iPhone beat the Pre on specs? The Pre has the advantage in just about every feature:

1) Full multitasking
2) Copy-and-paste
3) Web-centricity to pull multiple data sources together
4) MMS
5) More sophisticated touch navigation (The iPhone/iPod Touch is limited to zooming in and out with multi-touch. The Pre can navigate the whole interface with gestures.)
6) A real keyboard

And those are just the highlights.

There are lots of ways for Palm to screw it up (including not having enough good apps at launch, or releasing an OS that is too buggy) but right now, it looks like at least a triple, to use a baseball analogy. (It would've been a home run with either a larger flash capacity or an SD port.)

RE: release date

SeldomVisitor @ 2/27/2009 7:14:43 AM #

I wasn't discussing any "better phone" aspects of the Pre versus iPhone, but Colligan's statement about how, since the Pre was a "better phone" than the iPhone, there was no need to sell the Pre cheap.

I literally couldn't care less about Pre/iPhone comparisons; as valid would be a Treo 700p/Pre comparison.

The Pre isn;t out yet; Apple's next iPhone isn't out yet. We can compare THOSE two when the time comes.

June?

RE: release date

D Avis @ 2/27/2009 11:51:40 AM #

jac666us: "Except for Colligan's statement that the Pre being "significantly better" that the iphone - implying that it would be priced higher than the iphone"

And Colligan (who is with Palm) has what exactly to do with the Price of the Pre on Sprint?
Answer: nothing, nothing in the least.

Sprint has Palm phones with combined discounts of $500. There are $600 Palm phones for $100.

Sprint will be pricing this phone for 99% of the people who get it in stateside in 2009. Sprint no one else.

iPhone is now $150 for 8GB at Best Buy ($99 for some older BB customers). If you think Sprint will price it higher than iPhone, you are mistaken.

RE: release date

D Avis @ 2/27/2009 12:04:00 PM #

bHartman: "Aside from the 16GB capacity, and a screen that's larger by .4 inches, where exactly does the iPhone beat the Pre on specs? The Pre has the advantage in just about every feature"

.4 inches is more space. A 32 inch TV over a 27 inch seems like a trivial number until they are side by side. With a phone screen certain amounts of space are taken by soft keys on screen, thereby a 10% increase in physical size can translate to a 20% increase in usable remaing space.

With capacity, that is number people take seriously, especially high end phones replacing multimedia and personal a/v devices like iPod.

Now, since Sprint beats ATT 'on Specs" why was ATT kicking Sprint's behind before iPhone? Why does Verizon beat Sprint's behind?

Brand Matters. Lots of products with some better specs must compete on Price if they are dwarfed on Brand. You have the example in the case of Sprint itself right before you.

If Verizon was selling the Pre they could perhaps get $200-250. Sprint probably knows $150 is a sweet spot and $200 is a reach.

RE: release date

jca666us @ 2/27/2009 5:44:13 PM #

>Aside from the 16GB capacity, and a screen that's larger by .4 inches,
>where exactly does the iPhone beat the Pre on specs? The Pre has the
>advantage in just about every feature:

>1) Full multitasking

Let's be clear - it's multitasking of web apps. There are currently no compiled apps. for Pre - just webapps - as the iphone initially had.

Iphone supports single tasking of web apps and compiled apps - bringing it a whole class of apps which the Pre cannot adequately support.

>5) More sophisticated touch navigation (The iPhone/iPod Touch is limited
>to zooming in and out with multi-touch. The Pre can navigate the whole
>interface with gestures.)

I guess you've never used an iphone :)

>There are lots of ways for Palm to screw it up (including not having
>enough good apps at launch, or releasing an OS that is too buggy) but
>right now, it looks like at least a triple, to use a baseball analogy. (It
>would've been a home run with either a larger flash capacity or an SD
>port.)

Right now, if Palm can get it out when they've promised, it works as advertised, it doesn't burst into flames or crash, and bug fixes are timely, then they will have hit a home run.

If they screw up the execution, then Palm is toast.

RE: release date

Rastick @ 3/1/2009 11:52:42 AM #

>>1) Full multitasking

>Let's be clear - it's multitasking of web apps. There are currently no >compiled apps. for Pre - just webapps - as the iphone initially had.

Not true. Apps on webOS use JavaScript/CSS/HTML, but that doesn't mean they are web apps, though they can access the internet.

RE: release date

SeldomVisitor @ 3/1/2009 1:01:03 PM #

Don't need to access the internet to be "web apps", just need to be served by a web server (and if the app has a user interface, viewed by a browser)

WebOS...think the name has any...you know...hidden meaning?

RE: release date

twrock @ 3/1/2009 3:11:35 PM #

...think the name has any...you know...hidden meaning?

SV, you think everything has hidden meaning.

"twrock is infamous around these parts" (from my profile over at Brighthand due to my negative 62 rep points rating)

RE: release date

BaalthazaaR @ 3/2/2009 7:06:58 AM #

SeldomVisitor wrote:
Don't need to access the internet to be "web apps", just need to be served by a web server (and if the app has a user interface, viewed by a browser)

Technically it doesn't even need to be served by a web server. I remember back when HTML first became widespread, kids used to write rudimentary games with HTML and javascript.

RE: release date

SeldomVisitor @ 3/2/2009 7:42:36 AM #

Yeah, that's true, of course - I regularly try out stuff by editting a file and simply looking at it with a browser. Same thing with Java applets, of course.

The point, of course, was "the web" can be closer than the internet.

Like...you know...the name "WebOS" kinda smack-ya-in-yer-face suggests...