Palm Pre Now Available For As Low as $79

While Palm has seen its share of good news, and bad news over the last few days, it's hard to judge this news. The Palm Pre is as low as $79 (including rebate) or $99 (sans rebate), and that's as much as another $70 cut in price.

While a lower price might mean still more purchases of Palm's first webOS device, why the price drops? The price had already been cut from $199 to $149 after the announcement of the Palm Pixi, so why cut it more? Desperation?

Wal-Mart, with a $100 rebate from Let's Talk, is selling the Pre for $79 (with a new two-year contract). The rebate comes in the form of a LetsTalk Visa Prepaid Card; it appears this only applies to new customers as well.

Meanwhile, Amazon.com has the Palm Pre for $99. No rebate required, and less risky. How many of you have tried to get a rebate and then had it rejected for what appeared to be a lame reason? Right.

Another possible reason for the cuts? Sprint may know that its exclusivity on the Palm Pre is ending and may want to try to sign up as many subacribers as possible as soon as possible.