Palm Pre to Hit Sprint Stores in Mid-March?

This morning the Web’s abuzz with rumors that the much-anticipated Palm Pre smartphone, Palm’s first device to run its brand-spankin’ new Palm webOS, will hit Sprint Retail stores as early as next month. So far, the information isn’t official, but it’s the first hint at any sort of Pre release date...and it’s from a blog that has an impressive history of breaking smartphone-related news.

Palm Pre with Slider Keyboard Open

BoyGeniusReport.com’s Zach Epstein posted the information from a “Sprint 2009 End-of-Life (EOL) list,” an internal document that supposedly details the carrier’s plans to discontinue some long-in-the-tooth devices, as well as the handsets that will replace them. And guess what? The Palm Pre will replace the current blue Treo755p, a Treo 750 sibling that runs the existing version of the Palm OS, according to the post. The Treo 755p is set to hit the handset graveyard in late May, but the Pre’s expected to be in stock at Sprint stores by March 15.

Even if Sprint and Palm are able to stick to that schedule, and there are Pres-a-plenty in stores by the middle of next month, a corresponding launch date isn’t guaranteed. However, we already know the Palm Treo Pro, which will replace the Palm 800w, has a February 15 expected release date. The Treo 800w’s predicted EOL is April, according to BGR. That means Sprint is planning to launch the Treo Pro roughly two months ahead of when it estimates the 800w will be out of stock.

Since the Sprint EOL list suggests the Treo 755p, which the Pre will replace, is expected to be out of stock by late May, it stands to reason that Pre will be launch two months before in March.

Again, this is a rumor, but a late March Pre launch sounds about right to me, barring any unforeseen software problems or other issues. Honestly, early April sounds even more realistic to me, but that’s just a guess.

For more on the Pre, check out my first impressions of the device and the new Palm webOS from CES. And if you haven’t yet seen the Pre’s cool new wireless charger, read “Palm Pre Touchstone Wireless Charger: (Almost) Everything You Need to Know.”

AS