Roger McNamee reined in by Palm

We're very excited about the Palm Pre, and especially keen to see what the software world can make of its wonderful-looking WebOS. But we couldn't help but smirk at statements made by Roger McNamee of Elevation Partners (a venture capitalist that recently bought up 39 per cent of Palm) about the Pre showed an amusing disconnection from the marketplace (and reality).

And it seems Palm agrees. The company has balked at the backlash McNamee's comments incurred from the tech press and has put out its own reply to the notion that the iPhone only has months left to live.

"The statement in the second paragraph of the article that 'not one' person who bought an Apple, Inc. iPhone on the first shipment date 'will still be using an iPhone a month' after the two-year anniversary of that day is an exaggerated prediction of consumer behaviour pattern and is withdrawn."

The disagreements don't stop there, either. Palm Infocenter picked up on another casual retraction direct from the boardroom of Palm.

"With respect to the statements in the tenth paragraph of the transcript that the Palm Pre is 'going to be a million times - well, not a million times - several times faster' than Apple, Inc.'s iPhone products and is 'going to run rings around them on the web,' the Palm Pre is still under development and it is premature to state the speed at which the device accesses the web or the relative speed of the Palm Pre compared to the smartphone products of competitors."

McNamee needn't feel too victimised, though. Nintendo's and Sony's UK executives have ensured he's not going to be sat alone in the corner at the next electronics manufacturer's ball.