Palm's Launch of 'Pre' Thumbs Nose at Apple

Sprint will launch the much-ballyhooed Palm Pre smartphone June 6, two days before the annual Apple Worldwide Developers Conference. Though this year’s WWDC isn’t expected to produce any new hardware, John Biggs writes for TechCrunch, the scheduling of the Pre launch is connected … probably. Though unlikely, Biggs writes, it’s possible Sprint “just wanted to get something out on a nice Saturday.”

There are other, more calculated, reasons, Biggs writes. One is self-preserving. If Palm launches “a dog, the news cycle will quickly turn to Apple” and “investors will move on from their sad stink of failure.” Alternatively, Palm could be trying to steal Apple’s glory. “They went from zero to hero overnight and they owned CES 2009,” Biggs writes. “By launching two days before anything Apple is launching, they could own the news cycle.” (More Palm Pre stories.)