Best Buy lists unsubsidized "regular price" for Palm Pre at $850; punch in the face is no extra charge

by Ross Miller posted May 25th 2009 at 7:43PM

While subsidies, long-term contracts and unbecoming groveling are all part of the game when it comes to getting a hot new phone for a reasonable price, we'd say Best Buy's listed "regular price" for the Palm Pre is a little extreme: $849.99 will buy you a lot of Palm shares these days. That's miles away from Sprint's supposed $550 off-contract price, and it sounds like somebody along the chain doesn't want just anyone walking out of a Best Buy with Pre in their pocket and no "Simply Everything" plan hanging around their neck.

[Thanks, Fredrick C]

Filed under: Handsets, Palm

Tags: best buy, best buy mobile, BestBuy, BestBuyMobile, palm pre, PalmPre, pre, sprint, subsidized, unsubsidized

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

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backbeat @ May 25th 2009 7:56PM

That'll teach you not to buy a phone off contract from them

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tande @ May 25th 2009 7:58PM

I think as long as the "game" in the US market stays the same way it is now you're going to start seeing this more and more often.

Its really no secret that neither Sprint nor Best Buy want you walking out the door with one of these phones without a contract with it. Really they don't want you walking out the door with a new contract. Why hide it?

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CJ @ May 26th 2009 12:39AM

WTF!? Won't they just price match Sprint? Screw Best Buy...they continue to amaze me at how they are becoming Worst Buy...

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thequinox @ May 26th 2009 3:15PM

While I understand the need to have everything connected these days in a mobile world, I can't help but feel that all of these subsidies are changing the Palm forever. Palm used to be able to sell it's handhelds for $150, granted that was the crappy low end Zire series, but the point was you could get a good organizer at an affordable price. Now that they are moving to cell phone manufacturing, I fear that the decently priced Palm will disappear. Handhelds that used to go for 299 or 399 will now skyrocket to 800 or 199 on a contract. It's a shame. I pray for a day when the subsidies stop and I can actually buy a $300 phone for $300 instead of the ridiculous inflated $800+ they make you pay for a high end unlocked smartphone.

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