Beta Tester "Confirms" Palm Pre Launch Price and Release Date

We're all getting pretty excited about the prospects offered by the Palm Pre and what it may bring to the cell phone market, but when will it finally be released to the public? A beta tester has leaked that info.

Naturally, you'll want to take this report with a huge grain of salt, but it apparently comes from one of the beta testers for the Palm Pre. The beta tester happens to be on Twitter and he recently said that he spoke to the account manager regarding launch info for the Palm Pre.

In his tweets, this Sprint beta tester says that the Palm Pre will be launching on April 30th and that's the "line in the sand, according to my acct mgr there...he's usually right on #Palm Pre." An April 30th launch date puts the phone slightly ahead of schedule, which is good news for fans of the touchy-QWERTY phone.

But how much will it cost? The same beta tester reports that he has a source (not Sprint) marking the Palm Pre's price tag at $299 with a two-year contract. That's the same price as a 16GB iPhone 3G from AT&T, so while it sounds pricey, it seems competitive. That said, the beta tester bets that it will be "$100 or so after all the hype wears off."

Ah, the price of being an early adopter.

[Originally posted at mobilemag.com]