I must admit, when the Palm Pre was first announced in the early part of this year, I was pretty hyped and excited. I mean, I so wanted to move to the US just so I could get my hands on the Palm Pre first. Palm announced that they would be releasing the Palm Pre first to the US for the whole half of 2009 and the rest of the world for the second half of 2009. Well, a recent visit to one of Palm Pre forums reveal that some potential Palm Pre buyers may be tired of waiting.

The Palm Pre's potential buyers include Sprint subscribers whose contracts have expired or will be expiring. Some of these subscribers are first time mobile phone buyers who are itching to get their hands on a new phone. If they don't get their hands on a new phone, some of these potential Pre buyers may eventually be lured by the iPhone.

Palm doesn't seem to know that in the mobile phone industry, the key is to strike while the iron is hot, or in a mobile phone's case, while the buzz is hot. The initial buzz about the Pre was good but after a few months without news, even a definitive release date, the buzz is quickly starting to fizzle. The iPhone generated quite a buzz because it has a specific release date. Fans have something to look forward to and line-up to. With the Pre, there's just "First half of 2009" and nothing else. Eventually, without hearing any news and with Palm's history of scrapping entire projects, some people are getting tired. Also, with other mobile phone manufacturers announcing phones with better specs (read: Samsung Omnia HD), the Pre is quickly getting overshadowed.

I mean, aside from the Touchstone, I haven't heard any announcement from manufacturers about any Palm Pre accessories. If Apple were to announce a new product, 3 days later, a manufacturer announces an accessory for that product--now THAT's buzz.

Anyways, Palm should learn a thing or two from Apple about getting hype for a product. With the release of the Samsung Omnia and Nokia N97 a few months from now, will Palm be able to keep up?