14 DAY TRIAL // We already reported a few days ago that Sprint was going to hold a Webcast on the highly expected launch of the Palm Pre mobile phone, and the company kept its word, except that it unveiled only a small amount of new details on the device, besides what was already known on the Web.
The two companies involved in the launch, namely Sprint and Palm, announced that the device would be available with the carrier's “Everything” individual and family plans, yet they haven't said anything about the exact launch date of the handset or about the price that it should feature. According to Palm, the phone will get launched in the first half of the year, yet this was already known. For what it's worth, Palm Pre's launch could have something to do with Apple's iPhone 3.0 software, which is expected to be showcased next week.
A few things are certain at the moment, namely the fact that Sprint and Palm are considering their position on the market compared to the iPhone. Palm's Matt Crowley and Sprint's David Owens have suggested that there will be some features aimed directly at Apple, among which a user-replaceable battery.
At the same time, it seems that Palm is trying in a way to take a similar Pre development approach as Apple did with its iPhone, as it announced developers that they could build light Web-based "casual games" on webOS 1.0, yet also pointing towards the fact that future updates of the platform would be more robust.
For the time being, it is still odd that both Palm and Sprint would rather seem to avoid talking about the price and launch date of the new Pre. While setting up a date would force them to not delay the device, a price for the handset would be nice to hear about. Palm might also try to avoid giving specific details on purpose, so as to make sure that all eyes are set on its device when it gets launched, which would help the company a lot for sure.