Sprint kinda sorta drops Palm Pre price to $99, Bell to follow suit? (Updated – Sprint changes its mind)

UPDATE: Sprint is now saying the $100 credit promo was a mistake. I call shenanigans. The Pre’s price will drop significantly. If not now, sometime soon.

Yesterday we heard the rumors that the Palm Pre would drop to $150 in the US, and today we find out that the Pre will actually go for just $99 after several credits. Sprint will credit new customers switching from another carrier $100 over three months. This indicates a few things:

– The Pre is most definitely not reaching internal sales targets.

– Sprint and/or Palm has something against simple, easy-to-understand pricing.  Between these credits spread out over months and previous mail-in rebates, you’d think they want to confuse customers.

– The American drop in price means a similar drop in Canada can’t be far behind. Only Bell’s notorious stubbornness stands in the way. There’s probably more than a few people stuck with a Bell contract that can be cajoled into buying a Pre before a price drop north of the border.

I’m not at all surprised by this. As I posted yesterday, the Pre seems like a rip-off against the faster, stronger, and better 16GB iPhone 3GS that sells for $199. Palm is better off positioning the Pre against the $99 8GB iPhone 3G, which also lacks a video camera.