Poor Palm; Pre pricing possibly published prior to public proclamation
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.
[Via Unwired View]
Zach have you got something against Palm?
I sincerely hope this is a sick joke…I’m not on Sprint but I actually want this to do well and this pricing nonsense will definitely kill its chances.
The big deal here is if it will run all the old Palm OS 5 apps. I know a *ton* of people who still carry a Palm device or smartphone around because of all the applications. Will the Pre play nice with what’s now legacy Palm OS Applications?
@Lee
He has something against all things not named iPhone. Just read his non-iPhone articles vs his iPhone articles and you’ll see.
NICE alliteration Zach – the mark of an educated writer.
Chances are the $399 is the price without contract (or if on contract, but already bought a phone). More likely, it will be priced at around $199 — iPhone price — with a two-year contract. Which makes sense; the iPhone would be about the same price without the two-year contract. And phones such as the Nokia N-97 cost about $500 or more unlocked.
Essentially, Boy Genius Report is talking out of its ass — as usual.
The Pre’s pricing is Preposterous.
The pricing isn’t that ridiculous if you look at how much other Palm smartphones cost.
@Sevenmack Right, some random jackass speculating about phone pricing isn’t talking out of his ass, BGR is. By the way, Mr. Industry Expert, the Nseries naming convention doesn’t use hyphens.
@Randy Comment of the day!
Apple can sell the iphone for less than the cost to produce it because of AT&T’s ability to provide Apple with a subsidy for each phone sold.
Sprint on the other hand, doesn’t have the deep pockets and cashflow that AT&T has to provide that leverage to get the price down. Sprint is too invested in their Wi-Fi nextwork and doesn’t have the kind of money or credit to provide any significant subsidy to Palm, especially with their stock in the dumps, negative cash flow and an impossible time to borrow capital for anyone…especially Spint.
Thoughts?
Wow, Randy. You really know how to play on words. Right. Again, the pricing is likely without a contract. And given the breed in which it is playing (iPhone, N-97, etc.) it makes sense. The phone costs what it costs.
With a two-year contract, it will likely cost around $199, if not less. More importantly, the news coming from BGR — second-hand at best — is not even news. Just speculation. Since the phone isn’t coming out until May, we really don’t know what the pricing will look like anyway.
A reader should be a little smarter than the news outlet. In the case of this site, a lot smarter.
lol I’m pretty sure that is not going to be the final price. Whether that is the “supposed” price or that is the without contract price, this thing will be around $200. Palm seems to have shocked us all with this device, I’m pretty sure they know they need to compete in the market with Price as well.
But Sprint is hoping to turn things around and they will make this work! I hope…haha
Assuming it turns out to be as good as the initial demos show, I’d pay up to $300 for it but probably not $400. I don’t mind shelling out for something I use daily for two years but it needs to be competitive.
What’s hysterical is that Sprint (the industry loss-leader) is taking on a Palm entertainment phone at Premium pricing. Only those who are already gaming the Sprint service plan system will actually get this toy. Those who are intelligent enough to recognize that Sprint charges $30/Mo for Data for _new_ customers will require more from their purchase than some unsupported (non-Nova) OS.
Are Sprint and Palm sharing a death-wish now that neither can afford their own?
Forget the article, major kudos on the alliteration Zach.
I for one am a little…little disappointed in the price. I am hoping that price is with no agreement or a 1-year agreement. If Palm/Sprint really want to play in this game right now I think the best price would be $249 on 2-year contract. That puts them smack in the middle of the iPhone lineup. Yes…more expensive than an 8GB equipped iPhone (Pre is 8GB) but with a fancy new system and all the free press in the world it deserves a commanding price for a few weeks. I just think Apple will have some type of refresh on the iPhone 3G come July that will steal some thunder back…but people ARE becoming less and less enamored with the iPhone so only time will tell.
Not to mention…it is a tough economy and people are just not into spending big on gadgets when they can’t pay their bills. They need to keep that price attainable and get this thing everywhere as soon as possible so during tax season people can spend their tax return money on it.
Sprint should be giving these away for FREE with a 2-year commitment to Sprint’s “Simply Everything” plan–that would be a brilliant move.
@Sevenmack
“More importantly, the news coming from BGR — second-hand at best — is not even news. Just speculation”
I guess not many here follow Eldar Murtazin on a regular basis. He is pretty much the ninja of ninja’s: A true insider that is very, very rarely wrong.
Of course, he did not specify details on the $399 price, whether it is on or off contract. Given that he mostly covers Russia and European releases, where buying phones off-contract is far more common than here, this is probably an off-contract price from Sprint.
400 isn’t all that bad if you compare it to the 800 they are charging for the Sony xperia which is a terrible phone that reminds me of a an easily breakable happy meal toy
But xtant, there are plenty of folks out there who do have jobs, are making money and, though shouldn’t be too foolish with their cash, will shell out money for a phone they like. After all, people still spent tons of cash on movies during the Great Depression — even when a third of the nation was out of work. Folks were splurging on movies and toys even during the last four recessions — including the 1981-82 recession that makes this one look like a boom period in comparison. If you have the money, you will buy it. After all, smartphones aren’t an item of preference for most. Those who can’t afford it usually wouldn’t have bought it anyway — and weren’t in the market for iPhones, Treos and G-1s anyway.
And, by the way, just 8 percent of Americans are unemployed right now, far below Depression-level numbers. It’s bad out there, believe me. But not nearly as bad — yet.
In any case, the $399 is likely the unlocked price. It will likely fall to $199, if not even lower; after all, both Sprint and Palm have reasons to make the price as competitive as possible.
Let’s try a little more thought, people, and a lot less Boy Genius-style reaction.
Another way to run that promotion: sell the Pre for $399 with a 2 year commitment to Simply Everything, and include 90 days of free service. Of course, the device/OS will have to be a hit at launch to keep the return rates low.
Agreed, VerizonGuy, although I wouldn’t say give it away free. Actually, do a $150 price followed by a $75 rebate (making it $75) for the first 500,000 new subs who do Simply Everything (and a $100 price with a $50 rebate — making it $50 — for existing customers) could work for a time. It would actually do for Sprint what the pricing for the Rant has done in terms of luring new subs.
But since both companies need revenue, they would need to think all this through before going ahead with such an idea.
Both companies need revenue? Do you realize how much cash Sprint is sitting on?
I personally have the Sprint BB8330. I hate it. I plan to get the instinct to tide me over until this comes out. Me likes!
@ richard ward
It probably won’t run old palm apps. It’s a new unrelated OS. They will probably have new apps that will perform the same functions.
@Sevenmack who said: “Let’s try a little more thought, people, and a lot less Boy Genius-style reaction.”
Your reactionary, knee-jerk responses aside … let’s do just that, shall we?
Does this toy have Exchange support or just yahoo, gmail, aol like all other cheap phones?
Is it Palm’s plan to cannibalize their Treo Pro and subsequent WM devices, given the $150-difference in pricing (assuming the $400 Pre is off-contract)?
What does this entertainment phone sync with on the desktop?
What this boils down to is this … Who is this phone aimed at? The over-spending consumer who doesn’t mind not having and/or need any enterprise support? Or is this intended for the enterprise, but is sorely lacking in the class of features that market requires?
Still, at $30/Mo for Sprint data, I believe the average consumer is smart enough to demand more than a new GUI that has no heat behind it.