And, the length of time it has been in development says nothing about how ready webOS and the Pre are, or will be, for release. Sorry, but it smells like they are really scrambling to get this out the door.

I may know nothing about marketing and demand — although I don’t really see how that’s relevant to the issues I pointed out — but I do know something about software and product development, and, while they may prove me wrong, the signs are not good.

2) There will be app’s that matter, available on the Pre at launch, not your average redundant iphone app. Speaking of which, due to webOS over 3500 iphone apps can be ported over to the Pre. Not to mention, Classic app emulator which will launch on the Pre allows the user to run PalmOS app’s. Last I checked there are over 50,000 PalmOS apps. Saying Palm has no credibility with developers is BS. Stop making up rumors.

The Pre is hardly rushed, webOS went into development over 2 years ago under the code name NOVA, the Pre went into testing last December. It was announced in Jan this year, and is launching almost 6 months later. How in the hell is that rushed?

1) Shortages on release, which, although they are trying to put a brave face on this by saying they want it to seem scarce so it seems like there is great demand (yeah, right), likely indicate that they are having production/design/reliability problems, and the lack of availability for pre-release review units, along with the lack of unsupervised demos support the likelihood of this being the case.

2) There is currently no SDK for the Pre. Some might argue that it just hasn’t been released yet, but if it isn’t generally in the hands of developers, it is essentially vaporware. One might argue that the iPhone had no SDK on it’s initial release, but the difference is that there was no iPhone/App Store for it to compete against. Users will not be happy to find that there aren’t really any Apps for the Pre and won’t be for quite a while. (Not to mention Palm’s existing credibility problems with developers.)

Clearly they are just rushing the Pre to market, trying to get it out before the company folds completely and the next iPhone and Android phones are released. Microsoft can sometimes get away with this kind of strategy, but I doubt Palm can get away with it. None of these things bode well for the Pre or Palm.

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I’ve been following your coverage of the Viliv S5 and of the upcoming Pre. My mobile options currently include a Fujitsu T2010 12″ tablet PC (mostly for work), a Samsung NC10 netbook, and a Blackberry Curve. I’m looking for a better handheld browser exprerience, as the Curve, in my view, leaves a lot to be desired. My question is this: why would I need both a Pre and an S5 (other than the obvious fun of just having a bunch of gadgets)? I know the screen on the S5 is a bit bigger, and it runs a full XP OS, but the browser on the pre, from what I’ve seen, looks pretty darn good. If what I want out of a handheld is email, a good browser, and occasional video watching, doesn’t the Pre seem like it would do the trick?

Actually, the charger is only $49. It does, however, require the special back cover for the Pre, which is $19. On launch day, folks will clearly get both for $69, but in the future if you break either the cover or the charger, you can get them separately.