Palm Pre In March?

There may be some good news if you're eagerly awaiting the Palm Pre smartphone, as the Boy Genius Report has obtained documents showing it could be in stock in the middle of March. But I wouldn't start lining up yet.The End of Life list states stores should be getting the Pre in stock by the middle of March, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's when it goes on sale. BGR said more than likely Sprint will try to sell as many Treo 755p smartphones as it can before selling the Pre. This could push the actual launch date of the next-generation Palm phone all the way to late May or early June.

I think Palm is making a huge mistake if the handset doesn't come out until June. The Pre got more love from the tech press and the Twitter crowd than Palm has had in a long time, but I don't know how long that love will last. Sure, the Pre was arguably the most exciting thing at this year's lackluster CES, but who knows what the next six months will hold?

Let's say the Pre doesn't come out until mid-June, and in the meantime Apple goes ahead and announces a beefed-up iPhone capable of multitasking. Would you still be as excited to get a Pre? HTC reportedly has a pretty cool lineup of smartphones this year, Nokia and Research In Motion are sure to bring it, and we're bound to see a slew of new handsets at this year's Mobile World Congress.

I'm not saying they should shovel it out and wind up with Storm-style software bugs, but I do believe Palm needs to release it sooner rather than later. In the meanwhile, check out InformationWeek's first look at the smartphone.