It seems that AT&T is going to try to get their hands on the Palm Pre as soon as the exclusivity contract with Sprint expires. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson admitted that he sees AT&T selling the Palm Pre after Sprint’s contract with Palm has expired. This means we could see a GSM version of the Pre in the U.S. as soon as a year from the launch of Sprint’s CDMA Pre.

AT&T is also rumored to have the Palm Eos lined up for release as early as this year. While this is immensely beneficial for Palm, I can’t help but feel a little bad for Sprint. The carrier is taking a huge risk with the Pre, and is being rewarded by Palm giving the direct competitor their best hope for salvation. AT&T gets the iPhone, why can’t Sprint keep the Pre? Maybe we’ll see a CDMA iPhone after AT&T’s contract with Apple expires?

Anyway you look at it, we knew this would come. Palm has long been a manufacturer of devices on multiple carriers. The Eos and Pre are just the first of many webOS based devices, and hopefully, Sprint will have the first chance at those phones as well.

[Via CNet]