iPhone could poop gold nuggets, Palm Pre still matters

You have to love Apple. With its preview and SDK beta, they’ve got everyone talking about the iPhone yet again. There’s no question that iPhone 3.0 software is a good to great upgrade. Does it eclipse the Pre? Does the Pre still matter?

Yes. Anecdotal evidence: the media loves their iPhones. Witness SXSW where AT&T scrambled to improve coverage as iPhone users flocked to the festival and brought the carrier to its knees. It was this same iPhone-loving media that drooled over the Pre back in January. It takes something special to get a room of iPhone lovers on their feet applauding the introduction of a new phone.

Perhaps you don’t want to take my word for it. Fine. Even with beefed-up iPhone software, the Pre is still very important and here is why:

Competition

You don’t have to hold an economics degree to realize competition is a very good thing. Since its intro, no one has really challenged the iPhone. There has been no competitive impetus to improve the device. I believe the Pre is changing that.

Just having the Pre on the market should keep Apple chugging away at improvements. Nothing makes you run harder than competitors nipping at your feet.

Elegance

While Apple’s software is very clean, there is always room for improvement, right? The prototype Pre’s software was very smooth, sleek and in my opinion, outclasses the iPhone. Movements, animations, unobtrusive notifications, Palm put some serious thought into this and it shows in the demos they’ve held.

Synergy

This concept is fantastic. The idea is people are not fragmented, even though our means of communication are. The Pre brings together personal email, corporate email, Facebook etc and presents the person to you, not just one piece. Palm hit upon this idea again and again in creating the Palm and result is something that almost thinks for you. It is cutting edge for sure and the iPhone doesn’t have anything like it. Yet.

Keyboard

While Palm has to be careful to keep away from the “this is an iPhone with a QWERTY” argument, there is a whole score of folks who believe they need buttons. Those hooked on berries should find an easier way to get off that platform and onto Palm’s creation, no blind faith required.

Running out of the gate

The Pre is expected to hit the ground running with fun things like TeleNav turn-by-turn navigation, Pandora, Google, Amazon and others. While we expect many developers to begin cranking out apps, the Pre has some the iPhone still doesn’t have at launch.

Carrier

Right now, the best we can surmise is 6 months exclusive for Sprint. After 6 months, to the day, I’d bet Verizon will have it. Being available on more than one carrier should prove to be a weapon for Palm. Apple has been married to AT&T and you can still hear, “if the iPhone were on XXX carrier, I’d buy it in a second” (in fact, I believe that is what the Boy Genius tweeted this week). 6 months isn’t much of an exclusive but it is enough to get Sprint to help bear the marketing costs. Clever Palm.

So what is your take? Or, just watch me battle iPhone fanboys in the comments.