Who Will Pay $150 For Palm Pre At AT&T?

It appears as though the Palm Pre is prepared to debut on AT&T's network in just a few short weeks. That's great news for Palm, which needs the additional distribution point in the U.S. market. There's just one problem: The price tag.Palm and AT&T are in an unenviable spot. They probably entered into an agreement over the Palm Pre months ago. For whatever reason, AT&T will sell the device for $150 when it launches (according to leaked internal documents). That is a very reasonable price for the Pre.

Too bad Verizon Wireless, which has the fewest dropped calls, is offering it for $30. Not only is Verizon offering the device essentially for free, it is also offering the Pre with a mobile hotspot creator application for a negligible extra cost. It is quite a deal. The Palm Pre is also available at Sprint.

Aside from the Pre's availability at both Verizon and Sprint for less money, AT&T and Palm have another issue to worry about: the next iPhone.

Apple is primed to announce the next version of the iPhone in about a month's time at its WWDC event in San Francisco. Based on leaked information, the next version of the iPhone will surpass the first three versions of the iPhone in nearly every capacity. If we consider the iPhone's historic price points as accurate gauges of what the new version's price will be, it won't cost more than $300, and at least one version will be available for $200. By the time the Pre launches with AT&T, it will be a year old.

You tell me: Old and Busted Palm Pre for $150, or brand new killer iPhone for $200? Yeah, I thought so.