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Palm Pre Release Date Update

Sprint CEO Reiterates Planned Palm Pre Release Date First Half (by June) 2009

Palm-Pre-Release-Date-Update

Although hopeful rumours that the next generation Palm Pre smartphone might be released as early as April (see Palm Pre Release Date) continue to float around the fact is nonetheless that the official ETA is still thought to be “around June”.

In a recent interview with RCR Wireless, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse nonetheless provided us with a little bit more information:

RCR: Speaking of handset selection, let’s talk about the Palm Pre. How long will Sprint Nextel have exclusivity on the new device?

Hesse: We haven’t commented on how long the exclusivity period lasts. Palm and Sprint have agreed that we won’t comment on that.

RCR: Is there a scheduled release date?

Hesse: We haven’t announced that. The plan of both companies is to have [Palm Pre] 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, but we’re not going to bring it out until we’re really confident that the launch is going to be really successful in terms of how it operates. Of course to be able to produce the devices we want to make sure that there’s enough. Clearly it’s going to be a device that’s going to be in high demand and it is going to be in shortage no matter when we launch it, but we don’t want it to be too early where there’s only a handful of Pres in the whole country.

We want to make sure that we can also have production ramped up at a reasonable level before we launch the product. There are a lot of variables that go into when we’re going to launch it. But both Sprint and Palm are very focused on launching as soon as we can and our target is to launch in the first half. There are also no price details yet.

Reading between the lines of Hesse’s replies I am thinking about:

  • Exclusivity: although we had rumours that the Palm Pre is a Sprint exclusive for the whole of 2009 (about six full months after launch) it’s evident that Sprint has no incentive to let people know when they might or might not be able to find the Pre on another carrier.
  • Intentions vs. reality: the Palm Pre is not ready for prime time _right now_ but the intention is to have it ready by June.  The reality is that some things “might” still go wrong with that plan thus pushing the launch date.
  • 24/7 Work: it’s clear that both Palm and Sprint have a LOT riding on the Pre and that they want and need a flawless execution.
  • Demand: few doubt that the Palm Pre is the hottest new smartphone due in 2009 and given the level of excitement that it has already garnered Palm must be preparing production of a few million units to meet demand – something else that “may” delay its launch.

I _really_ hope that both Palm and Sprint will nonetheless be able to deliver the Pre to us without any delays but I have to admit that the recurring delay in the launch of the Treo Pro gives me pause for concern…

Sources:
Dan Hesse Q&A [RCR Wireless]

Preonauts want their Sprint Palm Pre ASAP


Posted by Andrew on February 26, 2009 at 11:19 AM

Palm Pre

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Comments

26
by MarcFTL | May 11, 2009 12:29:04 AM

Who cares anymore.

The Pre is just another Osbourne II. Vapor Hardware.

If you don't know what an Osbourne II was, 20 years ago Osbourne Computer released a suitcase style computer that they sold huge quantities of. Then they announced the II Version which had not even gotten off the design stage yet with over 100,000 original versions in the warehouse. Overnight the sales died and the company went out of business.

The Pre was announced in last year, and still no specific release. Palm Treo sales have died and gone to hell. Thousands are still available and Sprint who is the major seller of the Palm phones is also dying with extremly low sales of currently available versions.

Palm should never have announced the Pre until 30 days before its release.

I refuse to go with AT&T. And Verizon will not have the IPhone before late 2010, if ever.

Ill stick with Sprint and my Treo 755p.

27
by rhonda | May 12, 2009 9:13:48 PM

verizon could not handle this phone,they suck and have no idea what to do with this type of technology. Screw Verizon. ill take the att before them.

28
by Aaron | May 15, 2009 6:50:55 PM

Blackberry is so dated. They haven't innovated at all and are pretty stale now. Most standard phones can do everything a blackberry can nowadays anyway. I want touch screen AND keyboard. I want integrated email, mms, calendars, and contacts from different sources. I want a portable device that will actually display flash video (bite-me iPhone).

I WANT PALM PRE !

29
by Eric | May 17, 2009 10:04:50 PM

how could anyone put any stock into someone's opinion that doesn't know how to spell Kool-Aid?

The comments to this entry are closed.

 
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