Greeting visitors with a ‘Looking for an easy way to get a Palm phone to help you develop your applications?’ on the official website, Palm goes on to announce a 20% discount on the Palm Pre, Palm Pre Plus, Palm Pixi and Palm Pixi Plus handsets to Palm webOS application developers.
The offer is only valid in the U.S. and Canada at the Palm Store with free two-day shipping on the phones. These contract-free developer handsets do not come unlocked. Unfortunately for webOS application developers, the Palm phones are carrier-locked to Verizon Wireless and Sprint.
Palm Pre is being sold in the U.S. through Sprint at $439.99 while Verizon Wireless is offering the Palm Pre Plus for $479.99. The Palm Pixi and Palm Pixi Plus are being sold through Sprint and Verizon Wireless for $319.99, apiece. For regular mobile enthusiasts who think it’s unfair that the special discount is restricted to developers only, consider this – it’s a discount on hardware, not on plans.