Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

If you’re the Palm Pre, an amazing phone that challenges the notion that a software keyboard is best, what don’t you want to see from Apple today?  The Pre had its big launch on this past Saturday punctuated with lines and shortages, many Pre-sters are still sitting at home with no product and no Sprint contract.  What could Apple tempt these folks with that would make them jump the Pre ship?

The Pre, in case you haven’t noticed, is a supreme multi-tasker.  It’s card system of dealing open applications that run in the background so far has earned top marks from journalists and consumers alike.  Currently, Apple doesn’t allow background tasks; closed applications can’t update and it’s one advantage Palm should be yelling a bit more about, in my opinion.

Perhaps Palm is betting this advantage will only be short-lived as Apple could very well announce this today as part of iPhone 3.0 software.  This would be a bit of a downer for the Pre but I wouldn’t suspect it will sway that many users.

What the Pre really doesn’t want to see is another carrier gaining the iPhone.  The reason behind this is access to consumers.  Right now, if you want an iPhone in the US, you’ve got to get a hold of AT&T or find a used one and jailbreak it to another carrier such as T-Mobile. 

Access to more consumers means more incentive for developers and companies to produce 3rd party applications for the device.  The App Store has grown faster than dandelions in my lawn on a rainy day.  With a carrier such as Verizon sporting their own iPhone device, the Pre could get eclipsed in short order.  They’d become a footnote of the right idea, but bad timing.  I don’t believe too many folks are expecting this today, but the Pre definitely doesn’t want to see this. 

However, recent comments suggest the Pre’s exclusive with Sprint might be longer than 6 months, not a good thing for Palm.  This was Palm’s ace-in-the-hole in my estimation.  More carriers and more customers means more developers and the ecosystem grows quickly.  Stunting growth to just Sprint will do harmful things and force the Pre into another Instinct-like snooze fest.

Video, storage, compass (wooo!), video conferencing, matte finish, light up Apple logo on backside are all non-starters for the Pre.  I don’t believe, given the state of AT&Ts network that video stuff is going to be too amazing and the rest is just so-so.  No worries for Palm there.

We’ll check back in after Apple’s announcement and reassess Palm’s position, stay tuned.