Two separate reports have come in claiming that Sprint employees are already training up on the Palm Pre. The first from Sarah Lacy (the reporter who managed to pull the new Pre features out of McNamee) claims via Twitter that Sprint employees "are training on them, but they don't come out until June." There's a similar report over at SprintUsers from Awake:
Good news, several Sprint stores in my area have received brochures and literature on the Pre today. The store advocate said they should get a demo and live model within weeks, they expect the Pre will launch in 3 weeks!
Awake double-checked that these employees were talking about the Pre and not the Treo Pro, but don't take it as gospel that the unlikely February 15th launch we reported on is now a bit more likely. Why not? Well, at sister site WMExperts we find confirmation that Palm's Treo Pro on Sprint has been delayed until, guess what, February 15th. So either Febuary 15th will be a day of miracles for Sprint and Palm or there are a few wires getting crossed somewhere.
Comments
A guy at best buy told me that his sprint rep told him that they might have it on the 15th
Bet a dollar we see an ad to introduce the Palm Pre on the superbowl complete with launch information........
Life is good.
Screw you VZW and AT&T, with your nickle-and-diming ways.
I just got a call from Sprint (they wanted to review my current plan and tell me about the other plans available to me). They usually do this when my contract is about to expire. Anyway, I told the rep that I was waiting to see what would happen with the Palm Pre and asked if she had any more information about it. She said they didn't have pricing information at this time, but that it is "possible" for the Palm Pre to be available by the end of this quarter (Q1 09). I also asked if one would need any special plans. She mentioned that it is likely to be handled similar to the way they are handling the Instinct.
So, did she get the Treo Pro and the Palm Pre confused (as suggested in this article)? Perhaps. However, her comment about the plans perhaps being similar to that of the instinct confirms some of what I've been reading about the Palm Pre online.
Anyway, I hope she's right because I'm eager to see how this phone performs once everyone is using it. And I'd sure like to get one of the nice renewal deals Sprint tends to offer me to convince me to renew my contract for another 2 years.
I know at our store we have received the Treo Pro, but our manager hasn't even gotten an email about the advocate for the Pre yet. Most likely wires got crossed because of the single letter difference.
I am at the Detroit Auto Show and just spoke to 3 Sprint reps, one in particular, Thatcher Goetz, from Ann Arbor, MI who say their Pre packets have arrived and they will begin selling the Pre within days.
@ Greg. LOL "within days" ROFL. Most people don't even know about this phone. They're not going to sell it before a single TV ad airs.
I also don't see how your two tips report similar news. One says it won't be available until June, another one says in three weeks. That's not very similar.
Finally, if there's no Best Buy deal in place yet, then it's definitely not launching anytime soon. Sorry guys.
I'm not sure Sprint has a ton of options on when they release it. Sprint isn't doing very well financially... Even compared to the other carriers they are in bad shape.
Also, let me add that Sprint would be somewhat crazy to launch this phone in the midst of this economic depression, when other carriers are considering massive price cuts to their phones. Sprint will try to wait out the economy as long as it can. Hence June makes a lot more sense.
Personally I just want them to release it ASAP so the 16gb version comes out sooner.
I do not see the logic of Sprint advertising the Pre on their site in January then waiting over 5 months to launch it. The best time to launch a TV AD will be during the Super Bowl on Feb 1st, what better exposure than the largest sporting event in America. As for the economic depression, history has shown that people tend to spend money on items that are new and have a wow factor such as this device. People tend to forget that the economy has been hurting for the past 5 years at the least. Only now the truth is coming out.
Ok come on, clearly this is just getting confused with the treo pro getting pushed back to the 15th. There is no way they are going to launch two products this close together.
OK people, a lot of you guys are getting the two phones confused.... The TREO PRO is what's being released in a couple weeks... Most of the Sprint employees don't even know about the PALM PRE YET...
OK people, a lot of you guys are getting the two phones confused.... The TREO PRO is what's being released in a couple weeks... Most of the Sprint employees don't even know about the PALM PRE YET...
If there's one thing we should have all learned over the years, it's that Sprint employees really don't know anything. Even the ones who think they know, or are in higher-up positions within the company. It's fun to speculate, don't get me wrong, but we've heard everything from "a few days" to "June". They are a completely unreliable source of information at best.
@Dieter
A friend of mine who works for a corporate Sprint store has already played with a live demo unit of the Pre and he had nothing but good things to say about it. He also said that it would be launching "soon". So I don't think it's crazy to believe the February rumor that has been going around the blogs so far.
Keep your fingers crossed, I know you are getting a Pre too.
Every single time this is checked out with an actual source it turns out to be that the person meant the pro.
My corporate store manager said the exact same thing, turned out to be the Treo Pro.
absolutley correct, no one in a corporate store has touched the "PRE" yet, I am the pre advocate, trust me it's not in the store. However I have used the "PRO", as the seed device is in the store. stop mixing them up people. by the way the "PRO" (notice i said PRO) is a very nice phone.
Hopefully, all of the rumors are true. Can't wait for it to come out. Of course, I want Palm to make sure that the Pre is ready. Meaning most or all of the bugs are taken of. Getting updates to fix them is not going to look kindly on by customers. iPhone and the Storm did that. Now, the Pre is brand new so it needs to give a good first impression. Sprint also needs to get their act together too. For example, boosting their signal.
I will do ten "Hail Marys and Our Fathers" to get this phone sooner rather than later. Please keep posting the release date rumors. The hype is akin to making a wish list if I won the
lottery!!
I'm rooting for Palm and would love to see the Feb. 15 launch. (Especially because my Sprint contract is about up too) I know it would be a PR nightmare for Palm to come out with a real date and then not make it, but with WebOS out of the bag, who is buying any older palm OS products right now?? Maybe the bazillionaire investors have already chalked up 1Q 09 as another (and hopefully last) losing quarter.
It's still fun to speculate when Palm actually gives birth and delivers this cutie called Pre.
isn't the treo pro coming out feb 15th as reported on your sister sites.
what are
a) the chances people are confusing the treo pro and the pre
b) that palm would release 2 phones on the same day
a) 100%
b) 0%
A friend called me today to tell me the employees at the local Sprint store had one...he went there to buy a BB case, he remembered we were talking about it yesterday, and asked about the Pre...one of the employees had one in his hands...
He doesn't know much about phones so it could've been a Treo Pro instead of a Pre, but he was positive it was a flip phone...so who knows, this could be true.
"He doesn't know much about phones so it could've been a Treo Pro instead of a Pre, but he was positive it was a flip phone...so who knows, this could be true."
No chance. I'll bet my entire life savings it was the Touch Pro. The Pre isn't a "flip phone" (nor is the Touch Pro for that matter), but maybe he was referring to the slide-out keyboard on the Touch Pro.
He could just as easily have been referring to the slide-down keyboard on the Pre. Hard to tell, short of B2M2 emailing him a picture of each one and asking "Which of these was the phone you saw?"
Well I think that's exactly what B2M2 should do! B2M2 can you please email him some pics and get his response? Thanks!
I've never heard of anyone referring to a slide-out keyboard (no matter which direction it slides) as a flip phone.
But more to the point, his friend who by his own admission doesn't know much about phones was taking to a Sprint employee who by definition knows nothing about phones. :) I wouldn't get your hopes up guys.
come on guys, i resent that, no all of us have our heads shoved up our anus, i spend a lot of my time researching phones and testing ones that i dont own in the store. granted i work with a few sales reps that are still figuring out how to set ringtones, but dont bash us all. some of us know a thing or two.
Palm Treo Pro, Palm Pre, WTF? Maybe the dumb names are intentional - to make rumors confusingly useless? They certainly aren't helping differentiate the lines...
Bet we see an ad introducing the Palm Pre on the superbowl with launch information. My bet is $1.00.
$1.00 Please! 8^D
I'll go tomorrow there myself...
i've got $20 says no pre in the store.
It indeed was the Treo Pro...Sorry Guys!
the pro is already out!! My hopes rising for pre feb 15th launch!!
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcat17080&type=page&qp=crootcategoryid%23%23-1%23%23-1~~q70726f63657373696e6774696d653a3e313930302d30312d3031~~cabcat0800000%23%230%23%23yf~~cabcat0801000%23%230%23%231r~~cabcat0801001%23%230%23%231~~nf425||4e6577204172726976616c73&list=y&nrp=15&sc=phoneOfficeSP&sp=%2Bbrand+skuid&usc=abcat0800000
Its strange that its status is "sold out online"?
I will do ten "Hail Marys and Our Fathers" to get this phone sooner rather than later. Please keep posting the release date rumors. The hype is akin to making a wish list if I won the
lottery!!
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