• Silicon Alley Insider, Thursday, June 4, 2009 1:01 PM

The Pre, Palm's much-hyped iPhone competitor, is now just a few days away from its official release, and for the most part, it's receiving strong reviews, although most critics are complaining that the device lacks a sufficient app store, which has decidedly light third-party support thus far. That said, the consensus is that the Pre looks cool, has a great user interface-including touch screen technology and a slide-out keyboard-, and in Sprint, a superior network to the iPhone's AT&T.

Henry Blodget, for one, thinks the Pre won't be enough to steal the iPhone's thunder. "The Pre may be a cool device, but it won't restore Palm to its former glory," he says, citing three main reasons why. For starters, gadget reviewers, while undoubtedly impressed by the new smartphone, still don't think the Pre is as good as the current iPhone, let alone the new one set to be unveiled next week. Much of this comes down to Palm's woefully inadequate app store, which at launch, is still in beta. The iPhone, meanwhile, has over 40,000 apps available through its App Store, a figure that grows by leaps and bounds with every passing week.

Apps are a big reason why the iPhone is so valuable to its owners, Blodget says: "This creates the network effect that Microsoft Windows users have long been familiar with. Apple is far from having a Windows-like position, but it's getting there rapidly. And the only companies in a position to derail it right now are RIM and Google." Indeed, because of their size, RIM and Google are the only real iPhone competitors. However, Blodget is quick to add that the Pre makes Palm a much more attractive acquisition target. Nokia, "which is nowhere in the smartphone market", is the odds-on favorite, he says.

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