Palm Pre on June 6th for $200: It's official!
By Thomas Ricker 
posted May 19th 2009 7:00AM
posted May 19th 2009 7:00AM
posted May 19th 2009 7:00AM
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So what is the minimum $/month you need to pay?
I believe the way Sprint works it when they have a device listed as being with certain plans they are just saying you must use one of those plans to get the rebate. That being said if you wait a month or two and get on eon Craigslist you can put it on any plan.
The phone Needs an Everything Data//Everything Data Family plan. Even if you buy it full price or on Craigslist.
...which the minimum would be $69/mo for the 450 min unlimited data/text/gps plan or $59/mo if you can get a Sprint employee to sign you up for Everything Plus.
For the average consumer:
---Everything Data---
$69.99 for 450 anytime or $89.99 for 900 anytime AND:
1) Unlimited data: Web surfing, email, BlackBerry Internet Services (BIS), GPS Navigation, Music Premier, TV Premier, NFL Mobile Live, NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile
2) Unlimited messaging: Text, pictures and video
3) Talk: Unlimited mobile to mobile, night calling and weekends starting at 7 p.m., nationwide long distance and no roaming charges
---Simply Everything---
$99 for all the above AND unlimited voice.
Family plans also available. Heck of a deal.
Here that rumbling off in the distance? That's a "Pre"-cursor to something huge about to launch! Go Palm and go Sprint! NOW the real battle begins...Only on the NOW Network! Awesome!
I don't know about that...
At first the $199.99 price point puts it right into the battle with the Storm/G1/iPhone but then you look at the "after $100 mail in rebate" and that's an instant turn off, especially because Sprints' rebates are notorious for taking FOREVER.
Based on phone merits alone I'd say that the Pre is definitely a worthy challenger, but given that mail-in rebate I'd say they may have priced themselves right out of the game. As a consumer for smart phones I'm instantly more drawn to looking at the Storm/G1/iPhone's as opposed to the Pre for that very reason.
You can get Sprint phones for their after rebate price without having to deal with the rebate at Best Buy or Radio Shack
Sorry to disappoint you cocoviper but RadioShack does not offer mail-in-rebates, they are all instant! Not only that but they price match as well (new accounts only)
Don't know where you got that information. It takes about four weeks to get your rebate. I know the last three phones I've bought at Sprint took no longer than four weeks tops, and that was because I would procrastinate a few days before sending out the rebate.
Can't wait for this phone. Although, I do love the Rhodium too. Maybe I should flip a coin.
FINALLY they announced it. I WANT. Ive been holding off with my treo pro and I am READY to switch... ill put up with sprint for this phone... well that and I want the hell away from AT&T anyway
im right with you. i want out of my Verizon contract so bad, it's so expensive for so much less stuff. plus this clunky old Treo 700wx i've been using recently has given me about all i can take with this buggy ass firmware. so only 18 more days and the answer is here.....now to scrap together enough money to pay for the thing.
I wish my company offered a discount on sprint. They do att only. So should I get iphone + 50 a month bill vs. pre and 70-80 a month bill. ugh.
I am considering dropping SERO for this phone. I'll wait as long as I can to see how well it does, but I want this phone.
I'd gladly sign over your SERO plan if you decide to drop it, let me know - they're pretty hard to get nowadays but they are 'swappable' just reply to my comment if you might consider, thanks.
There is a pre-order page thru a Sprint business partner here:
https://secure.bluefishwireless.net/promo/palm_pre_preorder.cfm
I don't see any additional information on plans though....
FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!! COUNT ME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally getting rid of my old Sammy phone. Took my abuse for a couple of years. She was good to me, through the good an bad times. Time for the PRE!!!!!!!!!!!
I just want one. That's all i can say. Maybe i cant upgrade to this with my SERO?
I'd gladly sign over your SERO plan if you decide to drop it, let me know - they're pretty hard to get nowadays but they are 'swappable' just reply to my comment if you might consider, thanks.
$100 mail in rebate. When will these go away. Probably will show up on a visa card too. lame.
The last rebate I got from Sprint was a check they do Visa cards for referrals. If you don't want to mess with MIR (who really does?) then go to Best Buy. In the past all Sprint phones they sell had all instant rebates so you walk out the door at $199.99 pluse tax.
Correct. Best Buy does not do mail in rebates.
Also, Radioshack doesn't do mail in rebates, just instant rebates.
alright Best Buy it is then.
Bestbuy doesnt do mail in rebates they add them automatically so it will probably be at the 199 price at BB stores
Has anyone noticed that this thing looks pudgy? When it's slid open it looks just downright awkward. Palm has intentionally spread a lot of hype several months before the release. You usually see this.kind of desperate advertising before a horrible movie is released.. Remember when Valkyrie advertised every other minute on every Satellite channel for months on end before it;s release? ..The plan is simple..If they can just spread enough fake hoopla then some people will buy into it.
Hmmm. The last time I saw this kind of "desperate advertising" for a mobile handset, it was for something called the iPhone from Apple. It seems to have done ok.
Let me try to follow you...
The movie Valkyrie was advertised a lot. And in your opinion it was a poor film. So since there's hype around this phone, you're prediction is that it's a poor phone? Logical fallacy if I've ever seen one.
Smart launch date. Even though I haven't used Sprint or a Palm in years (and don't plan to return to either) I hope that this is a successful launch for both companies. We need to keep balanced competition going.
Apple didn't leak pictures or specs of the device like Palm did several months in advance. This is totally different. Palm is manufacturing hype while the iPhone's hype was generated by it's followers. Apple kept everything close to the vest and kept everyone in the dark until a few weeks before launch.
Need to check your facts....
http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/09/apple-announces-iphone-stock-soars/
Check the date on that artical...January 9th 2007. When did the first iPhone launch?
That right June of 2007...sounds farmiliar to me.
Even if the facts were right, I'm unsure of the point s/he is making.
Oh, and here's a look at the first commercial Apple put on television. It aired in February 2007 during the Academy Awards. Apple kept it close to the vest, huh? And have we even seen a Palm Pre commerical?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bvfs4ai5XU
Hmm my post of "LOL OWNED" seemed to not come thru, but either way. Shelve your fanaticism and quit runnin your mouth about how Palm sucks. I have a G1 and love Android but you dont hear me knockin anyone. Cus I'm not a crazy fanatic.
I think its great that Palm is staying in the game, I thought they were out out, and would never release this product. I'm hoping it and the Eos saves them cus I read recently about them being predicted as a likely company to file for bankruptcy next year. The more competition the better. But that isnt the mindset of Apple, sadly any company who decides to make the headphones proprietary for their iPod Shuffle is WAY too Nazi to earn my business. Apple needs to loosen up on the reins a little bit before I'd ever buy one of their products. Seriously between such strict product requirements and its peoples fanaticism Apple seems a lot too "Nazi" for me. I dont care if they make awesome innovations. If they continue with that dictator mentality I cant wish them success.
Oh, wait, I just knocked someone....at least its because of the companies greed I dislike them. Not cus I'm a G1 fanatic.
I am thouroughly enjoying watching the apple fanboy Heidey Ho getting some epic pwnage.
Sounds great. I'm a long time Sprint customer for my personal phone so I'm staying with them even tho sometimes I question my loyalty cus I've had horrible experience this last month with reception on two S30s and a Rant. I was thinking of holding out for the Instinct 2 but this Pre is at such a good price I might have to take it up.
I think they meant the iPhone 3G's release was kept secret until just before launch... hmmph
I think Heidey Ho just got his wisdom teeth out and is still suffering the effects of anaesthesia....or he could be handicap.
His two posts are possibly the dumbest fucking things I've ever read.
Fucking retard.
"The plan is simple..." - No bud the plan is not simple! Teams composed of marketers, engineers, analysts, and executives devise strategies and road maps to determine the products post release fate; so I hardly doubt you can deem the Palm Pre's 'business tactics' as simple numbo nuts.
Did you honestly compare strategies to the moves Valkyrie?
Uneducated moron.
As a dude playing a dude diguised as another dude once said, "You Never Go Full Retard!" and thats just what Heidey Ho just did. He went full retard smh
Anyone knows if sprint will allow tethering with this phone?
So $199 for an 8gb Palm Pre or $199 for the new 16gb iPhone? I don't own an iPhone and I'll probably never buy one, but seriously, what was Palm thinking?
I'm pretty sure that Sprint sets the final price, not Palm. And I'm thinking that they were thinking: a) let's do what we can to keep our current customers; and b) $100 for unlimited everything is better than anything AT&T offers, especially with the iPhone.
Pre = expandable memory on top of internal memory.
iPhone = no expandable memory, weak sauce.
@Omagus: if customers really weighed long term costs, Sprint wouldn't be hemorrhaging customers like it is now. The bottom line is that people will look at the Pre and the new iPhone and realize that you can get the new iPhone for the same price with double the storage, and you don't have to join Sprint. And the Pre then loses.
@elgee02: Sorry, there's no expandable memory in the Pre.
Who?: "if customers really weighed long term costs, Sprint wouldn't be hemorrhaging customers like it is now. The bottom line is that people will look at the Pre and the new iPhone and realize that you can get the new iPhone for the same price with double the storage, and you don't have to join Sprint. And the Pre then loses."
--
Sprint is hemorrhaging customers for two reasons: its customer service and it's lack of a flagship device. People have left Sprint because of the iPhone, the Bold, the Storm, etc. The Pre solves the latter issue and I *hear* that Sprint has been aggressively working on the former (and I'm sure the timing is no coincidence).
Now the question is whether or not the Pre plus Sprint's customer service improvement is enough. I can only speak for myself but (everything else being equal) the Pre plus Simply Everything would intrigue me more than the iPhone and its plans despite the difference in memory.
It doesn't? Well nevermind then that totally blows ass. I wasnt getting one anyways but I was interested in seeing how well it does.
No expandable memory on ANY device is weak sauce.
You're also talking about the new customers to Palm. There are many out there that have known Palm for years, and know its suited to more business application than the iPhone is. While the marketing strategy is aiming towards everyone, there is still that loyal crowd out there that know what this phone is capable of... And the way WebOS is shaping up to be, it looks like it really destroys the iPhone in terms of applications and integration.
It'll be interesting though when the Pre comes out. I'd like to see what the reviewers say and the iPhone fanboys say about it.
I want one! The pricing for 450 minutes and unlimited data and text is perfect. I currently pay 59.99 a month for 450 minutes with unlimited data and 200 SMS on my iPhone. I previously had the unlimited data with 1500 sms for 69.99 but I decided to cut back on sms and save myself 10.00 a month.
I will certainly be looking at this phone once my contract is up. The only downside is most people I talk to are on at&t.
This is the first phone that will give the iPhone a run for its money and will also help Sprint out a ton! Congrats to whoever gets their hands on this at launch!!!!
@Who? The phone hasn't even been released yet and your debating the price of the product??? Whats the point and seriously 8 GB to 16 GB of memory, who cares! 8 GB is plenty and doubt this type of phone will be a primary Mp3 player. I own an 8 GB iPhone and use the 80 GB Zune as my primary Mp3 player.
I don't think memory or storage will be to much of a factor here. Overall I think the Web OS out shines the iPhone OS currently, but I'm only going by what I have seen on the web. I'm sure some time soon we will see some big changes to the iPhone OS to match what the Web OS is going to offer straight out of the box. Palm out did themselves with the Pre and like the iPhone they did it right the first time.
Music and apps take up a lot of storage. Many people want to have one device for everything. Palm acknowledged this in their CES presentation and with their whole "Synergy" OS. But then they limit your storage to 8gb.