Even though the official launch date for Palm’s Pre smart phone, There is plenty of buzz in the blogging world about a mid-May premier of the product. If that is the release date, it may already be too late for the competitors of Palm to come up with something to fight back with and to tempt current and possible customers that they should greet the Pre with a yawn.

If the competition is going to grab the spotlight, it better be fast. The Pre is going to hit the market with a flurry of free press that will make it seem like Palm has created the killer of the iPhone. That is exactly what many pundits of the industry expect from the Pre.

AT&T who dominates this market with their iPhone product are none too pleased about the idea of an iPhone killer. They are gearing up for the fight. They are preparing their spokespeople to be able to answer questions and represent the iPhone as the dominant product despite the Pre. Some of the areas the iPhone shines that will be talking points when the Pre hits the market are…

• The iPhone has a durable design of metal and glass compared to the plastic casing of the Pre.
• The iPhone has a larger screen than the Pre but not much at 3.5 inches compared to the 3.1 inch Pre screen size.
• The iPhone has a huge array of Apps available. The Pre will have trouble competing with AT&T’s 25,000 iPhone apps.
• The iPhone has an intuitive Multi-Touch screen that is patented. The Pre has touch screen controls but they are not nearly as intuitive.
• The iPhone is GSM compatible, which makes capable of working overseas. The Pre is not GSM compatible.

IT is too soon to tell if these alleged advantages will make a difference to customers. The screen size issue is pretty minute. How intuitive the touch screen functions are is something that must be experienced to validate. And the Pre can counter with some advantage of its own including a keyboard that slides up, a size that is smaller and a battery that can be removed.

The outcome is this will be a battle. The Pre won’t kill off the iPhone out of the box. And the next generation of the iPhone is right around the corner which could take the market right back for AT&T. Whatever happens, it will be an interesting competition between two outstanding products.