The smart link works great too.  You have to do a manual unlock (like on the Mac/Palm according to a collegue), but that is no big deal.

Even Skyscape now list Palm Pre as an option in their product pages

Palm Inc. recently announced that Palm Pre will be released from Sprint on next June 6.

But let me remind you of something;

This is not a PDA, this is a Smartphone. Which means that you have the obligation of a 2 years contract from Sprint and if you are not a current Sprint subscriber then you will unlikely be holding the Palm Pre anytime soon.

Gone are those the days of Palm Tx when we used to show off that cool device as an amazing miraculous gadget that can help us diagnose and treat our patients. Now almost everyone carries a minicomputer in his pocket.

The convergence of the phone and the PDA has been noticed during the last two to three years and Palm is no exception, they realized that if you don’t get your phone, contacts, and Internet together with your PDA applications you are unlikely to addict to it [ just like how you are now addicted to your Blackberry or iPhone].

In fact with the exception of the HP’s iPAQs 111 and 211 there has been no major PDA-only device released into the market, all Smartphones.

Doctors really like the Palm OS and a high percentage insist on the Palm but what are they going to do this time! Are they willing to abandon their AT&T’s iPhone or their Verizon’s blackberry 2 years contract for the sake of a Sprint’s Palm Pre?

Let’s wait and see..