Palm Pre Rumored to Launch May 17 - Get Your Groove On!

The rumors are flying about a possible May 17 release date for the Palm Pre, though, truth be told, they're all flying out of one source: this PhoneNews article, which also claims that June 29th has been set as a fallback release date in case the stores don't have enough phones in-stock to meet the May date.

The reason that this rumor is getting such wide circulation is that Palm has already stated that they're still on track for a first-half of 2009 launch, which means that they have to put the Pre out sometime before the end of June. There's nothing to indicate that the phone is ready this month, which leaves the latter part of May or sometime in June as the most likely windows. Given this reality, anyone could make up a number in that timeframe and it would sound plausible.

In the absence of genuine, second-source corroboration of the May 17 date, others also linking this post at Pre Thinking, which claims to have confirmation from Sprint that the company is currently training employees on the Pre. (I have my own query into Sprint about this training rumor.) I'm not so sure that this is real confirmation of the May 17 date, though, because, again Palm has until the end of June to get the Pre out the door, which means that Sprint should start prepping for its arrival right about now.

The Pre Thinking post also asks the question that has been on my mind, namely, is the software going to be ready in time for a late-May release? The units we saw at CES 2009 last January were very primitive, and were more mock-ups than actual demo units. Reports from CTIA indicate that the software was in a primitive state there, as well. So I'm wondering if this device is really going to be ready by the end of June, much less by the end of May.

One thing is certain: Palm is in a very unenviable position. On the one hand, they desperately need the boost that a successful Pre launch will give them, which means that they have to deliver ASAP; but on the other hand, they cannot afford to blow this launch by rushing something half-baked out the door. Below are the released specs of the Palm pre