Palm Pre Release Date: June 6

Palm and Sprint have announced that their much anticipated handset, the Palm Pre, is set to hit Sprint stores and the warm pockets of tech-loving, Sprint-patronizing geeks, such as myself. We’ll be in Chicago for an Adwords conference, but don’t think that won’t deter us from hitting the Sprint store.

I will be required to hand over $299 at the point of purchase, and to sign a 2-year agreement with Sprint. Currently I am month to month with them. I’ve been with them for several years, having signed a contract with them for the Palm Treo 700p when it was released. I will be given (if supplies last) a new Palm Pre and a mail-in rebate for $100 back which I’m predicting will be mailed back to me just in time for sticker-burn to wear off; sometime in August or September. So, all said and done, someday I will have paid $199 for the phone plus the outrageous taxes that go along with it. I will make sure to report back how fast Palm gives back the $100 MIR.

The question that is really racking a lot of our minds right now is, will supplies last? One report suggests a strategy that involves launching the Pre in waves, or phases. According to one of the ninjas at Boy Genius Report, Best Buy’s Mobile department is planning on launching the Pre first on June 6, and then again “in volume” and “tentatively” in Late July/Early August. Whether it’s a strategy to build demand similar to the Nintendo Wii racket, or a serious supply chain issue, I guess we’ll have to take the ninjas’ words for it.