Sorry to kill your hopes. It turns out that Palm and Sprint have no plans to launch the Pre on April 30th. It seems our Twitter friend was spreading inaccurate rumors.  First things first; Palm says the launch date is more of a window, with the only thing set in stone is that they will have the phone out by the end of Q2.  More importantly, the 4/30 date didn’t sit with me because it’s a Tuesday. Sprint launches products on Sundays, not Tuesdays. Our Twitter culprit is a fake, thankfully.

When will we see the Pre? It seems Sprint and Palm don’t even know. They insist that the launch date hasn’t been set yet, which is a good explanation for the lack of advertising for our dear Pre.

While I was hoping for a 4/30 launch, or sooner, I’m glad that the tweets turned out to be false, just on an issue of principle.  Writers and reviewers work hard to develop the relationships with companies so they can test and review products so they can form intelligent opinions, help with the development of device and be a resource for information. When a rogue tester breaks NDA and starts revealing information about an unfinished device, public opinion starts to form based on that information, before the public can even use the device. If a beta was buggy and had problems, and a tester blabs about it, you can bet people will start to form negative opinions of the device, and it may even prevent sales, without even trying the final product.

The point is, testers are there to give feedback to the company, not the public. Violating NDA is unprofessional, and makes it more difficult for honest reviewers and testers to do their jobs.

[Via AppScout]

Palm Pre: 26-minutes live demo!