Talkin' Pre -- Week ending 31 July

Here's the Pre News we missed last week and a little bump for some other stories we wanted to revisit.  Let's Talk Pre!

> Roger that.  Looks like Roger McNamee, managing director and co-founder of Elevation Partners, has been making news again in the Blogosphere. Digital Daily's John Paczkowski cheekily renamed Elevation Partners "Exaggeration Partners".  Over  at our sister site, The iPhone Blog, Rene Ritchie notices that McNamee's prediction that nobody would be using an iPhone after the Pre's release hasn't exactly come true.

> Speaking of iPhone. on Friday, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington posted a piece titled "I Quit The iPhone." He was none too pleased with the Google Voice debacle:

Apple and AT&T are now blocking the iPhone version of the Google Voice app. Why? Because they absolutely don’t want people doing exactly what I’m doing - moving their phone number to Google and using the carrier as a dumb pipe.

Arrington would have switched to the Pre had there been a Google Voice app for the device.  We're wondering if he knows that there are at least three of them in our Homebrew forums.

> My Bad - Pre Briefly listed at $99 by Best Buy. For those who may have missed it, Best Buy caused a stir when they accidently listed the Palm Pre at $99. Dieter was on it and the issue was addressed by Twelpforce participant, Best Buy marketing manager, John Bernier,  who tweeted to get the word out. I guess you could say that a Pre spree got nipped in the bud.

> Want to see how the Pre matches up to a Treo 700p? Matthew Apps offered his thoughts, offering a great chart comparing the two and concluding:

"The answer for me is yes, but depending on your needs, you may want to wait until more apps are available. The success of the Palm Pre is dependent on Palm staying active and getting people developing on the platform ASAP. If and when that happens, it makes it an excellent upgrade from the Treo 700p."

> Palm Pre Is the Most Open Mobile Platform on the Market. InfoWorld's Tom Yager appeared to have some sort of epiphany:

"$299 is too much to pay for the Pre as a smartphone, but it is the right price for an open mobile platform. I understand now why Palm was reluctant to let the SDK go public, but Palm's little secret turned out to define Pre's niche in the market."

>Palm Loves LA!  We covered Palm's new mobile experience pavilions on Wednesday.   Ryan at PalmInfocenter also chimed in, "The Palm Center is described as being located beneath a array of umbrellas, in a approachable modern setting." It will be interesting to see if Palm expands on this initial foray.

> App Joy!  This week, tweets were plentiful about new additions to the Palm Pre App Catalog: Open Table and Fliq Bookmarks. Dieter posted on it here.

> More on Creepy Pre Ads.  Speaking of tweets, again there were a bunch about Palm's commercials.  Here are some examples:

joshuajones : these new Palm Pre commercials are creepy, like Tom Cruise, Vanilla Sky creepy"

amandizzzzle : I seriously, seriously hate those Palm Pre commercials. The hatred is nearing the Progressive lady. And that says A LOT.

commander_keith : The chick in the Palm Pre commercials is a T-1000.

Derek covered the latest Pre ad here .

> Tips.  Lastly, here's a tip from "Sincere303" for streaming music -- try Sky.fm.

> Listen up.  Our own Dieter Bohn joined our pal Rene Ritchie of the iPhone Blog to chat with Leif Iverson about the Palm Pre, iTunes, and the Apple Tablet rumors on the Digital Trends Podcast.

That's a wrap!