Yep folks, he’s back!  The self-proclaimed defender of the webOS community has returned from retirement to fight for our current cause: the burning desire to know the release date and specifications of the next generation Palm smartphone. As his newest video demonstrates, he’s back to using threats and demands to try and provoke Palm into responding.

The ReleaseMyPre guy first made headlines way back in April 2009 as part of a viral campaign, voicing fans’ frustrations at Palm lack of a release date for the original Palm Pre and quickly became an inspiration for us all. Well, an inspiration, as long as you ignore his threats and kidnapping attempts.

Since his first video, he’s appeared a handful of times in more YouTube videos, notably his Mother’s Day video. His outraged "PALM!!" scream became iconic in the wait for a release date. So much so, that we even had some fun contributing out own outrage in video form.

Now he’s back to be our collective voice, pleading with Palm for new device details. He’s even got a twitter account you can follow. At this point it seems to us like a win-win situation; either Palm gives in to his demands and we get new details, or Palm doesn’t and we get to see more awesome videos.

As he says, "Palm, you are officially on notice." We suspect that his 79 hour deadline will go unanswered ….and we fear that we may ourselves be ‘aggressively invited’ in the next PalmCast. Stay tuned!

Source: Twitter

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Finally! The wait is over for those of you waiting on a release date and price for the Palm Pixi. Since it was officially announced back on the second week of September, many of you have been waiting for it. Palm and Sprint have officially announced November 15th to be the day the Pixi arrives [...]

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A month and a half after Palm debuted the Palm Pixi, they’re announcing the release date and price: $99, November 15th, Sprint (just as we had guessed). That’s after a $50 ‘instant’ rebate and a $100 mail-in rebate, so customers will be laying down $199.99 at the point-of-purchase.

The price is pretty much what we expected, whereby "pretty much," we mean "exactly."  The device is designed to appeal to the mass consumer and is the true successor to the Palm Centro. Remarkably thin, the Pixi will also have Touchstone cover  available at launch too for $19. No word on the artist series covers – availability or price.

We like the price on the artist covers. We like the Pixi’s price too, but the mail-in rebate seems like a problem – a bigger problem than it was with the Pre… or so it seems to me. $199 at the point-of-purchase for a device meant for the mass-consumer seems too high. (Update: as rpiatt notes in the comments, it’s more Sprint than Palm who sets the price – so heap your scorn or adulation upon them)

You can read our first impressions of the Pixi here. If you’re looking for a refresher on specs, the main thing to remember is that it lacks WiFi, has a slightly smaller screen, and a slightly slower processor. The combination of those three things mean that unless you’re completely in love with the form factor (and we won’t blame you if you are), Pre owners will probably want to stick with their current phone.

What do you think of the Pixi’s price?

What do you think of the Pixi’s Price?(polls)

Full Press Release after the break

read more

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After a few months of the first webOS device from Palm making its debut in the US, Europe now also has the Palm Pre too. Our neighbors up north got the same CDMA version we have, but now the first GSM version has been released in Germany.

Finally our cousins from across the pond will be [...]

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We all know about the second webOS phone from Palm, the Pixi, and we also know is coming to Sprint first. What nobody seems to know is the price and the launch date. Well, almost nobody, since Palm and Sprint do know, but haven’t say so.

Just a couple days ago, the BGR posted that the [...]

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Buckle up, it’s rumor time again.

We’ve received several tips that Palm Europe will be announcing the release dates and pricing for the GSM version of the Palm Pre very soon, quite possibly tomorrow. Unfortunately, since Telefonica operates differently in different countries, pinning down exact pricing and availability for each region has been difficult.

As always, things in the rumormill are to be taken with a grain of salt, but a previously reliable tipster has laid down some details. For O2 Germany, the release date looks to be October 13th. The Pre should be available fully unlocked for around 480€ straight up (That’s just over $700 US), less of course on contract.

The UK, Spain, and Ireland details are still up in the air as of this writing, but it’s no guarantee that they will be available unlocked given Palm’s nastygrams to websites claiming to offer preorders. If they’re not available unlocked, we’ll likely see a race to figure out how to do that since the unlocked German version will come with a QWERTZ keyboard.

We shouldn’t have long to wait and see whether this pans out or not, but we hope it does while at the same time are hoping a previous rumor won’t.

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When the webOS 1.2 was accidentally leaked, we reckon the real release would be before the end of this month, it appears we could be rigth. Many of us have assumed this next Thursday September 24 will be the day we actually get webOS 1.2.

Why on Thursday, you might ask, well, lately Palm has [...]

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The wait for the Palm Pre in Canada continues. The latest is that MobileSyrup snagged an internal document showing that Bell employees have began their training on the Pre and will continue to train throughout the month.

Good news, that, but our understanding is that the hold up for Bell isn’t training, it’s inventory.  Palm won’t release to Bell until they’re confident they’re meeting demand with Sprint.  How goes that?  Well, recently in HowardForums, a user named Profets posted:

just came to post some news i heard from inside.. and that they’re preparing for a public launch of the Pre on friday/saturday of July 31/Aug1. but a lot of the time they keep referring to August 1 as the official launch date. Or at least what they’re preparing for unless some kind of delays occur

Sounds like another one of those friend-of-a-friend rumors, right? Maybe not.  A few posts later user MacD posts:

My sources state a release date between July 29th and July 31st, which would make sense to me.

That brings some credibility to the rumor.  MacD, for those who don’t know, was the user who leaked all the Blackberry Storm release information and has a knack for being right about these things.

And yes, it does seem to contradict our earlier speculation of a September 1st release and it does seem to be coming awfully quickly.  Then again, competing carrier Roger’s has a data plan promo ($30/6GB) which ends on July 31st, perfect timing for Bell to impress those data hungry folk with the latest and greatest.

Just a reminder, you can still enter Bell’s Palm Pre contest on this page.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

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Bell Canada has launched a new contest for, you guessed it, a free Palm Pre!  The full contest rules can be found here (and yes, they did erroneously use the Treo Pro as shown above).  Essentially all you need to do is fill out a quick registration on the contest page between July 7th and August 31st.  Oh, and you need to be Canadian and of legal age.

A few interesting things can be seen in this contest rules.  First off, it would appear this contest is open to all Canadians, even to those in provinces Bell doesn’t sell phones to.  A bit strange, though the rules do note that the winner will use the Pre on a Bell Canada plan, which just raises up more questions and confusion.

As happened with Sprint’s contest, a read through the rules gives some hints at pricing.  Section 5.1 of the rules state:

The Prize consists of one (1) 3G Palm® Pre™. Approximate retail value $650 Cdn.

That’s a pretty good indication Bell will be selling off-contract Palm Pre smartphones at about $650 CAD.  Not too bad considering Sprint’s full retail price of the Pre is $549.99 USD (about $640 CAD). Hopefully Bell Canada contract deals will keep it in the affordable range for most.

Lastly, while the contest itself ends on August 31st at 11:59pm, the rules say the drawing is on September 7th, which seems to reveal the release date is sometime between then.  Seems to make the most sense that Bell is going for a September 1st release, which could be beneficial in marketing.  Bell could pose this as a great back to school device, which could sell especially well to college and university students.

Hopefully Bell will make some pricing and release date details official soon, so we don’t have to keep making educated guesses.

Thanks, blueadept!

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An anonymous RadioShack employee has sent in what he says is a list of RadioShack store locations that will have "at least two units" on "or around" launch day.  The list is very long but also appears (we hope) to be very partial, including only locations in California, Texas, New Jersey, Florida, and New York.

Grain of salt time: we’re not vouching 100% for its authenticity, see, but if a RadioShack employee wanted to fool us all, there would be easier ways to do it than create a 3600-cell spreadsheet of Radioshack store locations.

We haven’t cleared up whether RadioShack will do BestBuy-style instant $100 rebates or of they will require a mail-in yet, but their MO of late has been to use the instant-variety.

Anyhow, this should help all of ya trying to figure out of your local RadioShack will have stock.  It’s a huge set, so naturally we’ve placed it after the break.

Thanks anonymous!

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Palm Pre Launch Stores 05-20-09

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