While Palm and Sprint remain tight-lipped on any specifics, reports out today suggest that electronics retailer Best Buy will get a limited supply of Palm Pre units June 7.
It’s not clear if that would be the launch date, as 4,500 Pre models are on tap to be distributed evenly to each Best Buy store selling mobile devices, according to a report by the [Boy Genius Web site](http://www.boygeniusreport.com/2009/05/03/best-buy-to-trial-launch-palm-pre-on-june-7th/).
If reports are true, new customers with a two-year contract, would pay $199.99, while existing customer upgrades would cost $299, close to the basic Apple iPhone model price tag of $200.
The Palm Pre is set to ship in the first half of the year by Sprint, but there has been speculation by industry watchers that Palm may roll out the Pre in May to avoid overlapping with the highly anticipated release of any new iPhones, rumored to be unveiled between June 8 and 12 at the Apple developer conference.
Meanwhile, two other unconfirmed reports are circulating that a lower-cost version of the Pre, dubbed Pixie, priced at $100, would be out a few months after the Pre while yet another unit, the EOS, which could be priced at $349, excluding any carrier rebates, is on tap for AT & T.
The GSM/HSDPA Eos phone, seen as the successor to the Pre, also runs on the new Palm webOS and offers a 2.6-inch, 320 x 400 display, 2-megapixel camera, cellular video and 4GB of storage, according to [Engadget](http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/30/palm-eos-super-thin-3g-and-headed-to-atandt/).
Meanwhile, Palm at its blog is asking for people to sign on as reviewers, with the chosen testers to be notified Friday.
It’s shaping up to be a smack-down in the smartphone sector this summer, so we’ll keep you posted.
