Sprint Shows Pre-Posterous Timing
Updated from 11:42 a.m. EDT
Congratulations,
Sprint
(S) - Get Report
and
Palm
(PALM)
, your make-or-break Pre phone has a mere 48 hours of limelight until
Apple
(AAPL) - Get Report
unveils a new iPhone with a cheaper calling plan.
Sprint says it will release the phone on June 6 for $199. That is a
day later than recent expectations
and far more expensive than the
some analyst had anticipated.
|
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The Palm Pre has been considered the closest thing to an iPhone killer since
Research In Motion's
(RIMM)
touchscreen Storm touched down at
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
last year. After three years of development, the Pre is now ready for action.
Unfortunately for Sprint and Palm, the Pre debut threatens to be overshadowed by the new iPhone. Apple is expected to introduce the third version of the iPhone on June 8 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.
To add more sting to the comparisons between the Pre and the iPhone,
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
, as TheStreet
, is considering a $10 cheaper price plan. Sprint's starter plan for the Pre is $69 a month. AT&T's proposed entry level plan for the iPhone is $59. For you budget-minded tech fans, that's a $240 difference over the life of the two-year contract.
The touchscreen Pre, which has won
, could be the device that helps reverse Sprint's downward plunge. Sprint lost 4.5 million subscribers and swung to a $2.8 billion loss last year.
But so close to the Apple iPhone fanfare, Sprint and Palm haven't exactly given the Pre much time to bask in the smartphone sunlight.
One way to look at it, however, is that somehow stumbling Sprint didn't manage to put a $250 price tag on the Pre and delay the intro to after the iPhone celebration.
