Earlier today, we reported on an official June 6 release date for the Pre. In addition to finally confirming a release date (previously rumored to be the weekend of June 5th), Sprint also disclosed pricing and availability details. As previously stated, the official price will be $199 on a two-year service agreement (on either an Everything or Business Essentials data plan). Also, because it's after a $100 mail-in rebate, you will need to pony up more up front.
The Pre will be available in Sprint stores, Best Buy, Radio Shack, select Wal-Mart stores and online. Dan Hesse , CEO of Sprint, had this to say about the fancy new webOS handset:
“The argument that you need one phone for work and another phone for play, or that you have to make compromises between business and lifestyle productivity, is over...with Pre, compromises of the past are history.”
Sprint is definitely not taking the launch lightly, and in addition to providing a training unit to each store advocate to brush up on webOS, retail stores will be closing early at 4:00pm on Friday, June 5th, reports Boy Genius. Once all the fancy displays, demo units and other goodies have been prepared, stores will open early at 8:00am the next day to dish out the Pre phones. More info after the break.
"This is going to be huge", reports Precentral. Kevin Packingham, Sprint's senior VP of product technology, spoke with the New York Times and states; "It's the highest confidence I've ever had going into a device launch that this is going to be a blockbuster."
Also revealed is pricing of the Palm Touchstone inductive charging dock, which will cost you $69.99. The kit includes the matte battery cover required to use it, and if you lose the cover or want a spare charger for the office, the parts retail for $19.99 and $49.99, respectively.
Sprint's marketing campaign has been in full gear recently, with several podcasts and commercials released, among other advertisements in print and on the web. But AT&T is still looking to spoil the webOS party, giving employees some anti-Pre training of their own recently in hopes of swaying potential buyers. Also, the release of the Pre comes just two days before the Apple WWDC on June 8th.
UPDATE: Reuters adds that the marketing campaign may not yet be at full throttle. "We don't intend to advertise it (the Pre) heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while," Dan Hesse states. And because only 375,000 units might be shipped out initially (compared to over a million iPhone 3G units), this could be spread thin among all retailers at launch. So if you want one right away, you may want to pitch that tent after all.
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