Hasta La Gadget!

Palm has stopped teasing us and finally announced a date for the launch of the Pre. The handset will go on sale on Saturday June 6th for $300, just two days before Apple’s WWDC, where many are expecting the announcement of a new iPhone.

And it looks like Palm has already messed up. The headlines, including the big splash page at Palm’s own Pre site, shout $200 as the price, and that’s the price that most other bloggers are quoting this morning. But reading a little further shows that this price is based on a $100 mail-in rebate, which means you could (and probably will) be waiting months to get the check. So we think it’s wiser to consider the price to be $300, and then be pleasantly surprised if and when the rebate check actually shows up.

Whichever price you choose to embrace, it is based on a two-year contract with Sprint. The Sprint Press release says that you’ll need to sign up for either the “Everything Data plan” ($70 or $90, depending on which it is) or the “Business Essentials with Messaging and Data plan” ($70 and up, depending on minutes).

We also have details for the accessories. The Touchstone charger will be an extra $70, a car-charger into which you can slide the supplied USB charging cable will be $30 and a pair of leather cases have been shown but are as yet un-priced.

The timing is very interesting. Palm could either scoop an Apple announcement at its Worldwide Developers Conference, which starts June 8 (and remember, it will most likely be an announcement — last year we had to wait a couple weeks until the iPhone 3G actually shipped) or it could burn bright for a short weekend until being extinguished by the fire-hose of iPhone news.

Product page [Palm]

Press release [Sprint]

See Also:

Palm Unveils Its Long-Awaited Smartphone, the Pre

NYTimes: Palm Pre Due First Week of June