Official TiPb Palm Pre Discussion

[jamesus]

I have a bad feeling they are going to price this one way too high.

I remember my first Palm Pilot. m505 was a great device, until someone stole it from me.

[JFSikora]

Agreed, although, this is Sprint we are talking about. They may want to make this very affordable. At least to new customers. I wonder what kind of deal Sprint and Palm cooked up for this.

[jamesus]

Good point. I guess my view of how Sprint runs is jaded, since I automatically assumed that they would jack up the price. They could both definitely use a huge splash with this one, pricing it for everyone and their mother to get one. If they do this right, it will sell like hot cakes.

[melwan]

heh, iPhone 3.0 will be Quad-Core? I already have a reason to ignore Palm Pre altogether.

[JFSikora]

Originally Posted by jamesus

Good point. I guess my view of how Sprint runs is jaded, since I automatically assumed that they would jack up the price. They could both definitely use a huge splash with this one, pricing it for everyone and their mother to get one. If they do this right, it will sell like hot cakes.

From Gizmodo:

When Peter Kafka asked if the Palm Pre's price would be less than the iPhone's $199, Palm CEO Ed Colligan replied, "Why would we do that when we have a significantly better product?"

That is a pretty bold statement considering Colligan opened his mouth and tried smashing Apple before the first iPhone came out... The new iPhone will make this Pre look like it's a Treo 650. Just my guess...

[jamesus]

I agree. I guess the next real step is to see if people will adopt it.

Speculation on price? Is this going to be a $600 device before Sprint savings?

[JFSikora]

Originally Posted by jamesus

I agree. I guess the next real step is to see if people will adopt it.

Speculation on price? Is this going to be a $600 device before Sprint savings?

I've been hearing $250 or $300 on a two year contract.

[jamesus]

Sounds about right. Same basic price point as the Touch Pro and Treo Pro.

[JFSikora]

Ok, more pricing info leaked via BGR:

"Nope, it’s not over yet. More Pre news is coming down the pipes and this time it comes from rumorsville. The two biggest pieces of the puzzle omitted from the Palm hoopla yesterday were pricing info and timing for the GSM version. Many have speculated that Pre pricing would fall in line with the iPhone 3G to create the best fighting chance Palm and Sprint have of competing. If Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-review is to be believed however, that sentiment is out the door. How does double sound? According to Murtazin’s sources, the Pre will launch with a steep price tag of $399. Wow. Of course the original price of Apple’s base iPhone was $399 but plenty has changed since then and the Pre isn’t quite the jaw-dropper Apple’s handset was when it first saw daylight. We have no reason to doubt Murtazin but we do hope his sources are wrong about this one, especially considering the fact that we will almost certainly see a new iPhone released before Sprint can drop the Pre price down to mass-attainability level.

As far as the GSM version of the Pre is concerned, Murtazin’s sources state an early 2H release in Europe with pricing in the neighborhood of $500 - $550 USD. While carriers are still unknown at this point, the pricing certainly sounds about right if we’re looking at $400 from Sprint. Of course the release of a GSM / WCDMA-compatible Pre was never really a question but it’s nice to have a possible time frame, for Europe at least. Looks like it’s time to dust off the phone number of your favorite mobile importer."

[jamesus]

Just saw that as well. Very valid points made about the iPhone and price drop.