[Caduceus]

Someone from Sprint told me this evening that it will be $199. Sounded reasonable to me.

That would be a steal! I would call Palm and sprint foolish if they priced the phone that low. maybe they could make up the loss revenue in apps but that is not guaranteed...

[bhtooefr]

Unless they're going to require a SE plan to get that price.

[jhoff80]

Someone from Sprint told me this evening that it will be $199. Sounded reasonable to me.

Someone from Sprint as in a customer service representative? Or someone who might actually have a clue?

[PatrickS]

How many of you think all these "unsubstantiated rumours" about price are trial balloons seeded by Palm?

[Pearl_Diva]

Blackhawk5, $199 would be in direct competition with the iPhone and G1. That may not be a bad move if true. Especially if Sprint keeps their prices lower than everyone else.

AT&T PDA data and messaging rates are high. T-Mobile also said something about raising data rates to pay for the G1 3G bandwidth and have also raised messaging rates. Can you even use AT&T and T-Mobile's everything plans on those 2 phones? I'm leaning toward "no" with the iPhone, not sure about the G1. The Pre could be the bargain of the year if done right.

I must say that $250 would be a good price too.

[ZenithNadir]

AT&T PDA data and messaging rates are high. T-Mobile also said something about raising data rates to pay for the G1 3G bandwidth and have also raised messaging rates.

A bit off-topic, but rates for texting are downright scandalous, considering there's no added cost to the carrier to send them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/bu....html?emc=eta1

But text messages are not just tiny; they are also free riders, tucked into what’s called a control channel, space reserved for operation of the wireless network.

That’s why a message is so limited in length: it must not exceed the length of the message used for internal communication between tower and handset to set up a call. The channel uses space whether or not a text message is inserted.

Professor Keshav said that once a carrier invests in the centralized storage equipment — storing a terabyte now costs only $100 and is dropping — and the staff to maintain it, its costs are basically covered. “Operating costs are relatively insensitive to volume,” he said. “It doesn’t cost the carrier much more to transmit a hundred million messages than a million.”

[Aero]

It's Offiical Now Palm Europe VP of Sales, Mr. Paul Ghent has confirmed the unlocked Palm Pre will cost $500-$550 in Europe while Sprint customers will get it for $399.

Let's not repeat that too much. Ghent said nothing about pricing. A fourth blog posting, citing a third article, sourced soley to a second blog, citing a first article which cited Ghent on a completely different question, threw that in themselves. That game of pass the secret while it mutates is neither four confirmations, not anything more than a guess and not actually from anyone connected to Sprint.

The only people with Sprnt or Palm who might leak the crazy $399 are people not involved at all in pricing decisions, but PRPRPR $people$ $interested$ $in$ $portraying$ $high$ $value$, $who$ $also$ $get$ $to$ $lower$ $expectations$ $on$ $price$ ($by$ $citing$ $the$ $high$ $end$), $so$ $everyone$ $feels$ $a$ $pleasant$ $surprise$ $when$ $it$ $turns$ $out$ $to$ $be$ $cheaper$.

In the keynote, Dan Hesse from Sprint made a comment that basically their service compliments the Pre very well because you can have a plan for less than a hundred bucks a month that lets you take advantage of all of the features of the device without worrying about the meter running.

The point people are making is many if not most Sprnt people, with unlimted data, are paying considerably less than $100. Many pay in the $40 to $50 range.

Someone from Sprint told me this evening that it will be $199. Sounded reasonable to me.

I am with you for many reasons. Sprint has the lowest demographics of the national major players (ATT Verizon Sprint). The least business lines as well.

It doesnt mean that the Sprint users here are unsophicticated, but that the national numbers are low. The users also generate less revenue per line tha the other big boys.

Low price ($250 or less) with mandated plans higher than Average Revenue Per User make a lot of sense.

[Caduceus]

Blackhawk5, $199 would be in direct competition with the iPhone and G1. That may not be a bad move if true. Especially if Sprint keeps their prices lower than everyone else.

AT&T PDA data and messaging rates are high. T-Mobile also said something about raising data rates to pay for the G1 3G bandwidth and have also raised messaging rates. Can you even use AT&T and T-Mobile's everything plans on those 2 phones? I'm leaning toward "no" with the iPhone, not sure about the G1. The Pre could be the bargain of the year if done right.

I must say that $250 would be a good price too.

I tend to agree with Colligan when he said that a Pre was clearly superior to the iPhone. Which is why I think Palm should price it closer to the $250 number.

You do bring up some excellent points concerning data rates, that is something that could make me switch carriers. AT&T's unlimited data rates are ridiculous.

No doubt that those prices for Sprint would be a bargain for the consumer, I am more concerned with the health of Palm. They should be trying to squeeze every drop of profit out of this phone they possibly can...

[theog]

I'd buy this phone for around $200... anything more than that I'll let it pass. Even then, it may be nothing more than a backup to my winmob phone where I'll have more space to mess around with.

Reception better be great...

[SolarPlexus]

How many of you think all these "unsubstantiated rumours" about price are trial balloons seeded by Palm?

Fascinating.



Smart Idea.....

[aristarchus]

I save over $600-700 per year with my sprint plan, so $400 for a Pre is much cheaper than a $199 iphone on an ATT plan.

[Aero]

Fascinating.
Smart Idea.....

They are wild guess, trail balloons. leaks from old documents, and quite possible intentional highballing to assert prestige and value. If you have worked marketing at this level you would expect all four.

[letsgoflyers81]

Obviously everything we read on pricing is hearsay until there's an official statement, but this makes me feel a little better. $400 retail and $199 with contract is a very reasonable price.

http://i.gizmodo.com/5129126/palm-pr...vion-after-all

The curiously well-informed Russian gentleman who spread the Pre=$399 rumor wants to clarify! He meant to say that it'll be $399 or $499, and $149 or $199 on contract. That's a pretty big clarification, guy.

The claim is as follows: With Sprint, Palm is considering two different price points to be decided based on the competitive landscape at the time of the Pre's summer '09 release—a part of the original report that has been revealed as true, pretty much—and will settle on either a $399/$149 or $499/$199 unsubsidized/subsidized pricing.

Another little interesting nugget? The initial production run will sit at around 200,000, a low number necessitated by the limited manufacturing capacity for the Pre's screen hardware.

The $149/$199 figure is obviously the story here, as the on-contract price the most important, referenced one for any handset. But don't ignore the $399 price either—that's less than many no-contract BlackBerrys and WinMo phones, and the same price as the G1 developer model. All this sounds like it could conceivably be true, and if Palm wants their new handset to make any waves (or more urgently, save their entire company) then they should make it true.

[bhtooefr]

Unfortunately, if it's true, that makes the Simply Everything theory look more plausible (not that it needed help looking plausible.)

Look at the other devices that Sprint's selling, specifically the 800w ($599 w/o contract, $249 with, IIRC,) and HTC Touch Pro ($579 w/o contract, $299 with.) Those devices aren't as high-end as the Pre.

Now you realize how screwed we are.

[letsgoflyers81]

I wouldn't say they're not has high end as the Pre. Being Windows Mobile they're positioned as business devices and the Touch Pro (and Mogul before it) has been positioned as the flagship PDA/smartphone. I'm not saying you're wrong, but Treos and HTC devices have always been some of the most expensive phones on Sprint so I don't think we can necessarily use their prices to say a cheaper Pre means SE will be required.

[letsgoflyers81]

Let's get real here...

$199 is the max Palm can charge if it wants to hit the mass market. Anything above that would make people turn to the iPhone.

Unfortunately, I bet Sprint will make you stick to the Simply Everything Plan, which is nearly the same as AT&T's iPhone Plan.

Of course, the fact that Sprint made you stick to the SE plan for the Instinct--was a main reason the Instinct was a big flop.

Truthfully, the ONLY people really looking forward to a new Palm phone is people who already have Palm. Am I going to give up my SERO plan ($35/mo) for the Pre and the SE plan? No.

My thoughts exactly. If Palm is going after the same kind of consumer that has or wants an iPhone they should price it in the same range. I understand they're also trying to compete with Windows Mobile but to be honest this doesn't come off as a business device to me the way WM devices do. And I REALLY hope Sprint learned from what they did with SE and the Instinct. I understand them aggressively pushing the plan and recommending it for the Pre, but I think it would be a mistake to require it. I have a SERO 500 plan and there's no way I'm giving that up for a plan that costs three times as much. If that's the case I'll just get a Touch Pro.

[patchs]

Let's get real here...

$199 is the max Palm can charge if it wants to hit the mass market. Anything above that would make people turn to the iPhone.

Unfortunately, I bet Sprint will make you stick to the Simply Everything Plan, which is nearly the same as AT&T's iPhone Plan.

Of course, the fact that Sprint made you stick to the SE plan for the Instinct--was a main reason the Instinct was a big flop.

Truthfully, the ONLY people really looking forward to a new Palm phone is people who already have Palm. Am I going to give up my SERO plan ($35/mo) for the Pre and the SE plan? No.

I posted this info in another thread but I'll repeat it here.
Sprint CS just called me, to see if I'm happy and if I have any questions (my contract expires in May).
I ask about the Pre and if it needs the SE.
The rep basically said, yes, you will need SE to get the Pre, you can't keep the SERO plan.
That may not be "official" but when you think about Hesse being all excited about ARPU last week and a Sprint rep on a video speaking about a "range of SE plans" for the Pre, it's easy to read the handwriting on the wall.

[TomD]

How soon we forget.

Remember when the iPhone came out?

The price has dropped twice. Remember all the bellyaching by early adopters?

That may be what Palm is planning to do. Palm can crank up their earnings to positive more quickly with a high priced intro.

The problem with that is that the market has changed. Coming this late to the Uber-phone market may require a lower price point for intro.

We'll See

[MaggieScratch]

How many of you think all these "unsubstantiated rumours" about price are trial balloons seeded by Palm?

Sneaky. If that's the case, it's very smart of them.

[leadtrumpetdave]

Update: either $149/$199 with contract according to the original source (VP of European Sales or whatever)

Hope that's correct!!!