Pre-Emptive?

Palm’s too-long-in-coming smartphone, the Pre, seems on track for an early June launch. People briefed on the company’s plans tell the New York Times (NYT) that Sprint (S) will begin peddling the device the first week of June. That gibes with what I’ve been hearing as well, so it’s perhaps reasonable to assume that the June 5 street date batted around these past few weeks is a solid one. And that means Palm (PALM) is bringing the device to market just three days before Apple’s (AAPL) Worldwide Developers Conference, the event at which the company is expected to announce its next-generation iPhone. That gives Palm very little time in the limelight that Apple will inevitably steal from it. But perhaps that’s the point. By debuting so close to the presumed announcement of the iPhone, Palm would be ensuring that its new device is fresh in the minds of anyone mulling the purchase of Apple’s latest offering–or writing about it. It would be parasitically riding on the back on the Apple media juggernaut. Question is, can it hang on without getting trampled?