Here it is boys n` gals, after months of anticipation, exhausted by rumors it is offical. Palm Pre will be available on June 6th, Spint has just released a press release. All you european Palm lovers before you get too excited, there is a bit of bad news. Palm Pre will be selling only in the US for the time being, and there is no info on the EU launch at this moment. This is pretty dissapointing that Palm decided to take this path. We are still hoping that they will at least give us a rough estimate.

So Palm pre will go for 199$ (after a mail in rebate and a two year contract with Sprint), we are guessing CDMA/EVDO version with a special “Palm Pre only” plan with data & messaging included. It will be available at Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack and some Wall-Mart locations. Optional TouchStone inductive charger will be 69,99$ (charger + back plate)

The launch date is on collision course with WWDC and possibly new iPhone demo, so we guess people at Palm calcualted their ods pretty carefully and decided to go for the prize :) . Since we are euro centric Palm Pre blog we will be on the lookout for any kind of info on the EU launch date so stay with us.

It seems that everyone that was speculating about March 1st as the Palm Pre launch date were not that far off. According to the BoyGeniusReport, that somehow got ahold of the Sprint EOL products list. As you can see things are getting really interesting, amongst other models there is a note on the Palm Pre “in stock on the 3/15″ (March 15th). It’s not much, but i think it’s enough.

According to BGR the Palm Pre will replace Palm 755P during that period. Like we sait it is not hard, undisputable evidence, but for many of us that are looking for any shread of “proof” it is enough.

* Sierra Compass 597 USB – Early February – Sierra 598 USB
* Motorola ic602 – Early February
* LG 160 – Mid-February – Samsung M220
* LG Rumor (blue) – Mid February – LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
* Motorola i325IS – Mid February – Motorola i365IS
* LG Rumor (green) – Mid March – LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
* Franklin Wireless U680 USB – Early April
* Palm 800W – April – Palm Treo Pro (target in-stock 2/15)
* LG Rumor (black) – Mid April – LG 265 Rumor II (target in-stock 2/15)
* Motorola i615 – Mid April
* Samsung M520 Lumina – Mid April – LG LX370 (slider)
* RIM BlackBerry Pearl (red) – May
* LG LX400 – Late May
* Palm 755P (blue) – Late May – Palm Pre (target in-stock 3/15)
* Sanyo 6750 Eclipse (pink) – June
* Palm Centro (berry) – June
* Motorola Q9C – Mid June
* Sierra 597E – July – Sierra 2-in-1 Aircard
* Palm Centro (green) – July
* Palm Centro refresh (black) – July
* Motorola VE20 – July
* HTC Touch Diamond – July
* RIM BlackBerry 7100i – August – RIM BlackBerry 8350i

So it seems that Palm decided to have an early go on the “throne”, shortly after Worldwide Mobile Conference in Barcelona, where we hope to see more Pre demos Pre will be introduced to the world. This rises other concerns like, will this be USA only launch, or if maybee GSM version of Palm Pre is ready to ship on the same date. I think that March 15th is a bit prematured for a complete and polished product and I’m really skeptic about the date. Opinions?

BoyGeniusReport via WebOSblog

It’s time to go in the rumor domain since no real news are flowing in. There are several “reports” that Palm Pre might hit the shelves as early as March. There is nothing specific but it seems reasonable to assume. The reports around the web are saying that Sprint is already training their sales staff on the Palm Pre, it came from a pen of a serious journalist Sarah Lacy so there is no reason not to believe her.

Here is the deal, the earlier release date, the better chance they can catch up with Apple, BlackBerry and the other crowd. As I see it, for Palm time is of essence, earlier they launch they have a better chance of fighting off Apple with their copyright/patent whatever infringement accusations, especially when Steve is on the leave.

So March is a perfect date, they announce the launch date at WMC in Barcelona, giving time for end buyers to cash in and prepare, at the same time they are one step ahead of everyone else.
Android, Apple, RIM and everyone else will be launching not sooner than summer. So I don’t see why not.

Oh and I almost forgot, we just might have a secret clue, a subliminal message only for the cool kids to see, giving away the launch date. Check out the time stamp on every other official Palm Pre picture :).