Remember when people stood in line with cash in fists (I was there in line, but just to check it out) to pay $500 for the iPhone, how many apps could they add? Zero! We had to jailbreak it later to add apps (I had the iPod Touch by then). But Apple has changed that forever. They have made it simple to find, evaluate and most importantly purchase applications (not that all required to be purchased, many are free). Since then Google’s Android and RIM’s Blackberry phones, and others, have developed application stores for their phones. For this reason, Palm has to develop the same for distribution of the applications for its new WebOS phones like the Palm Pre for Sprint.

The truth is most people just want a cool phone that works. Most people just graduated to a camera phone. Most people have just graduated to having email on their phone, i.e. Treo, Centro and Blackberry popularity among the prosumers. Most are just glad to graduate to a device that allows them to send a SMSText message without pressing the same button over to generate a simple message.

Many people have paid way more than $299 for a phone that could do way less. Palm and Sprint has priced the Palm Pre at $299 with a $100 mail-in rebate that reduces it to $199. Best Buy and others will forgo the rebate and offer the phone at $199 with an instant rebate. Either way, the buyer will agree to a 2 year contract. Remember how much money people spent on the Motorola Razor? And it couldn't do anything fancy.

Some people have complained about the forced Voice & Data plans that Sprint mandates with the purchase of the Palm Pre phones. This phone is based on WebOS and Synergy which require Internet access to make it work for people. So to provide this phone without a data plan (preferably a unlimited plan) would result in very angry or very dissatisfied customers. So they are only providing that you have what is required to have a great experience with the phone. People have paid way more than $100 a month on a cell phone bill to just talk. Technology changes so fast that people forget this quick. MetroPCS has changed peoples thinking on what they should pay each month for a phone bill; prior to their $50 unlimited plan people paid an average of $100 a month for just voice (including any over limit charges)

My point? The Palm Pre provides the average phone user a lot of functionality for the dollar. Much more than they ever have had before. The number of candy bar and flip phone users far exceeds the number of Smartphone users that Apple, Palm, RIM, Microsoft and other Smartphone makers have combined. All Smartphone makers are targeting THAT group of people, not the current users of Apple, Palm or RIM phones. If some of these folk buy; then great, but they want the mass of new Smartphone users. Look around you right now. Go ahead look around. How many people are holding a non-Smartphone and busy at it? They are busy Texting, playing whacky games that we used to play on Atari, taking photos of themselves, etc. These are the people they want.

Having said that, the apps will matter in the long run. Palm's app store must be done right. There is no doubt that people will develop for the WebOS and the Palm Pre if the masses buy the phone. If both of these things happen, then the app store must make purchasing these apps a breeze. Remember when everyone was screaming that Palmgear.com was robbing developers because they took a cut? Obviously Apple agreed with Palmgear. The problem with the online method was many people didn't know where, what and how it all worked. Some provided PRC files, others zip files and from so many places. It was a mess. Users had to rely on fan sites to explain what, where and how. Apple also introduced the $0.99 application price. This changes the game too. Do developers want to market a $19.99 app and sell 100 or sell a million apps at $0.99 each?

Another area where Palm has to get it right is in the WebOS update departments. Within Palm's loyal fan base are thousands of People who will praise Palm when they do things right and inform them when they are not. With Twitter and other social mediums, Palm is plugged in more to its customers and critics. In the past, Palm was extremely slow to release updates when bugs were identified in its OS. Apple has changed the expectations for this area as well. They have provided very timely updates and have informed their public of what these upcoming changes are. Palm must duplicate this process as well and listen to its customers and make timely updates that address bugs and new feature requests without having to be raked over the coals.

I am looking forward to the Palm Pre. Yes, I would love to have had the SDK out before launch so apps could be developed and available day one. Yes, I would like to have video recording day one. BUT I am delighted to have Palm back in the game. I am happy to see Palm finally providing the things we have asked for like a real MP3 player, Video or movie play back, multitasking, a fantastic web browsing experience, a large beautiful color screen, mass media storage, GPS, WI-FI and a decent camera. It is almost like Sony CLIE is back in the game again. Maybe the Palm Pre will force them to get back in the game.

We already know that Palm has partnerships and relationships with wireless service providers all around the world. Once Sprint's exclusive deal ends, we can expect to see a quick deployment of the Palm Pre and other WebOS devices to the other U.S. wireless providers. I am excited for what the mobile experience can grow to with the re-emerging of Palm into the Smartphone arena. Let's just hope they don't lose their mind again. Palm has an army of loyal followers who are ready to move these and future devices to the masses. Here's to them staying on top and using us to their advantage and not just taking us for granted.