Lots of people are making a big deal about the collision course that the Palm Pre and the iPhone are on. Today the Palm Pre was officially given a ship date: June 6th at a $199 price point (after rebate.) Not coincidentally, this is 2 days before Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC as it is known.) Not surprisingly, people are Twittering up the Palm Pre today and many are speculating that the iPhone finally has real competition. Engadget is even running a poll today where one of the choices (currently the most popular one) is "are you waiting for WWDC" before you buy one.
Needless to say, the Palm Pre has benefitted from early buzz of Apple-level proportions. This is rare for any company, but particularily amazing considering Palm was widely believed to be near bankruptcy. [And it is no coincidence that many former Apple folks now work at Palm who learned their marketing skills at the side of the Master himself.]
The Pre is to Palm what the iMac was to Apple: a new product where innovative marketing is just (or even more) important to the success of the company than that product's feature set. The iMac marketing (and subsequent iMac sales) saved Apple from bankruptcy and paved the way for the iPod and iPhone succcess.
Will the Pre do the same for Palm?
BTW, today is my birthday (I'm 9 years younger than the other Steve) if you Palm guys wanna send some Pre love my way ;)
