Palm Pre Debuts June 6

May 19, 2009

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Sprint announced Tuesday that the highly anticipated Palm Pre will be available starting June 6 for $199.99 with a two-year contract and $100 mail-in rebate.  The phone will be carried by Sprint stores, Best Buy, Radio Schack and some Wal-Mart locations as well as online at sprint.com.  The pricing is competitive with the iPhone, which costs $199 for an 8GB model with a two-year contract with AT&T.

The device ships with Palm's new webOS, which offers users the ability to keep mulitple applications running at one time, a functionality far more limited on the iPhone.  Users navigate applications like cards in a deck on the touchscreen, flicking one away to the top of the screen when done.  The system also enables universal search, which scours both the Web and files on the Pre for searched-for terms.

Palm is also launching an inductive charger for the Pre called the Touchstone charging dock.  It wirelessly charges the Pre simply by touching it when the user sets the device on top of it.  The Touchstone dock will be available on June 6 as part of a $69.99 charging kit that also includes a Touchstone back cover for the Pre.  The dock and back cover will also be available separately for $49.99 and $19.99, respectively.

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