Bear Stearns: Sprint To Sell Palm Treo 700w Sooner Than Expected

The Consumer Electronics Stock Blog posts that "Bear Stearns analysts Andrew Neff, Bill Hand and Ted Chung sent a note to clients regarding Palm’s launch with Sprint of the much-anticipated Treo 700w." According to the note, Sprint will offer the "Treo 700w ahead of schedule as early as end of February." Bear Stearns writes:

Based on our channel checks, it appears that Sprint is likely to offer the latest PALM Treo 700w (Windows version) as early as end of February, which would be ahead of schedule (following its launch with Verizon on 1/5) — Sprint version of Treo 700 was not expected until end of March at the earliest based on the historical length of the exclusivity agreements with carriers (i.e., 3-6 months). Sprint is likely to price Treo 700w at $449, at parity with Verizon and a $50 premium to Treo 650. Sprint will offer both models.

I hope this will put added pressure on Verizon (and Cingular for their 3G data plans as well) to drop their data rates for all-you-can-eat EV-DO from the current $45 a month down closer to Sprint's $15 a month. If not then the savings alone from just using Sprint's Power Vision plan will cover the purchase cost of the Treo 700w in a litle over a year's time....