“They will wait until their two-year contract is done,” McNamee said today in an interview in San Francisco. “But you know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”

When asked about the release date and price of the Pre, McNamee said Sprint Nextel Corp., the phones exclusive carrier, probably will release the details soon. Palm, which pioneered mobile devices with its Pilot products more than a decade ago, aims to use the Pre to lure customers back from the iPhone, the most popular consumer smart phone in the U.S. last quarter.

Speculation about the price and the release date has circulated on the Web since Palm unveiled the product at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. The company and Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint have said they will start selling the device in the first half of the year.

Sprint spokeswoman Michelle Leff Mermelstein didnt immediately return a call seeking comment. Palm spokeswoman Leslie Letts declined to comment beyond Palms previous statements.

Palm fell 40 cents to $6.66 at 3:40 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares have more than doubled this year. Sprint dropped 22 cents to $3.10 on the New York Stock Exchange.

McNamee, 52, is a co-founder of Elevation Partners, the investment firm that agreed in December to pay $100 million to lift its stake in Sunnyvale, California-based Palm to 39 percent from 25 percent. His firm, whose partners include U2 singer Bono, also invests in companies such as Forbes Media LLC.

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