The Pre has seen as much rumour and deliberation as the iPhone hardware update, but Sprint - the exclusive carrier of the Pre in the US - has finally revealed a release date and pricing structure for Palm's hardware rebirth.

The Pre will go on sale on June 6th - two days before Apple delivers its keynote speech at the Worldwide Developers Conference, almost as expected. But it won't be coming cheap, and appears to be aimed at business users as much as tech savvy consumers.

“The argument that you need one phone for work and another phone for play, or that you have to make compromises between business and lifestyle productivity, is over,” says Dan Hesse, president and CEO of Sprint. “With Pre, compromises of the past are history.”

Confusing past tense statements aside, Sprint goes on to announce that the handset will cost a handsome $199.99 on top of a two year contract and after a $100 'mail-in rebate'. The contracts will begin at $70 per month and include an essential data plan to ensure the handset can make use of its inherent connectivity.

Despite the wallet-crushing outlay of $1880 over the two year period (not including any extra charges beyond the tariff's inclusions) the Pre has gathered a lot of attention, and its widespread availability through a host of large-scale US retailers suggests a promising launch.