Is the Palm Pre an iPhone killer?

Is the soon to be released Palm Pre an Apple iPhone killer, or will the Pre be Palm’s last hurrah? Does the Pre offer superior business applications, a more developed user interface, and have more pizzazz than the iPhone?

First of all, despite the recent return of my own business iPhone (a return that was more IRS regulation driven than due to issues with the iPhone itself), it’s pretty hard to kill a device that has enjoyed the kind of success and widespread adoption of Apple's iPhone.

Even given the good sales of the Treo and Centro lines, Palm is not in the strongest position to fight the iPhone given its long series of recent misfires and, up to now, outdated Palm OS. In addition, Apple has AT&T Mobility firmly behind the iPhone today and may add another Cellular powerhouse, Verizon, in the future. The Palm Pre has Sprint, who is rumored to be the exclusive cellular carrier for the Pre. This is the same Sprint who is pretty much on their last legs themselves.

But for business use, will the Palm Pre be better than the iPhone? Perhaps. It can leverage Palm’s general acceptance in the business field from the popular Treo series. It also has a Linux based OS that developers and IT administrators will likely favor. Unlike the iPhone, the Pre supports Flash. That could well make a difference for some business web-based applications.

Rumors also abound claiming that the Palm Pre can multitask between applications, something that the current version of the iPhone can’t do for most apps. It also has something that the iPhone sorely needs, at least according to some, including yours truly—a real, physical QWERTY keyboard. But will it have the same security options as the iPhone or the Blackberry? Remember that although Apple was a little late stepping up to the plate, it did eventually offer remote wiping, SSL and other security enhancements in iPhone OS 2.0.

A possible win for the Pre is that it’s e-mail application is rumored to be more flexible and more powerful than the iPhone’s e-mail app. But is it really? The Pre’s calendar is believed to be better than the calendar on the iPhone, but that is not a real victory for Palm. Apple’s calendar app is somewhat pathetic and doesn’t match the power and flexibility of the other apps that come with the iPhone. But that may well change with iPhone OS 3.0, or if not, with iPhone OS 4.0. You can be sure that Apple won’t sit on its laurels if it thinks that someone has a better game in town.

The Pre is rumored to have a pretty decent camera—said to be an "amazing" 3-megapixel camera. Can three megapixels really be better than the mediocre 2-megapixel camera that occupies the backside of the iPhone? Not necessarily since 3-megapixels is rather paltry these days. This could make the Pre’s camera as much of an afterthought as it is with most Smartphones on the market today. Still, it has a built in flash. So, if the lens is better, if the JPEG processing software is better, it is possible that the Pre's camera could produce images that are good enough for casual business use.

But don’t write the iPhone off just yet. Apple is not one to stand around and watch others take away their lead in a market. This is a company that thrives on competition and enjoys having the underdog role—a role that they have had all along with the Macintosh line of computers—and that role hasn’t hurt their bottom line one iota.

The advent of the Pre serves to make the Smartphone field even more interesting and that’s a win for business and personal users. Whether it is a killer or a wimp, we really won’t know until some time after the Palm Pre launch that is rumored to be around the nineteenth of this month.