engadget.com

Well the New York Times, one of the most respected newspapers of our age, claims The Smartphone That Saved Palm (despite their denials) is due in the first week of June.

I can’t believe that rumor’s going to turn out to be true. To be sure, there is no right time for Palm to launch the Pre (as I’ve said before, the extent of the Pre’s failure will depend solely on whether Apple announces an iPhone with a keyboard, and possibly background processes) but I’m fairly certain that WWDC week is the worst possible time.

There was speculation in one of the latest TWiT podcasts that Palm hoped to get throwaway lines at the end of all media reporting about the iPhone — “Meanwhile, Palm is hoping to take on the iPhone with its new Pre smartphone.” I know there’s supposedly no bad publicity, but I don’t see anything positive about that strategy.

Unless they’re sacrificing the Pre (which is said by everyone to be crappy hardware) and counting on the fall’s launch of WebOS-based Centro to make things right.

Or they’re just panicking.