Could this be a hint at the release date for the Palm Pre?
http://blog.palm.com/palm/2009/04/sprints-new-pre-portal-news-videos-tweetsand-doughnuts.html
I'm taking a shot at yes. Here's why it makes sense to me:
- Why else would you put up a countdown to zero (Doughnut, btw) to such an obscure holiday?
- As has been restated by Palm and Sprint repeatedly, the date falls in the first half of the year (albeit late).
- It's a few weeks after the start of the just-announced Sprint vacation freeze
- It's the weekend before WWDC, potentially stealing the iPhone 3.0 / next-gen iPhone thunder.
Now, my only skepticism of the date is how close it lands to WWDC. Either the Pre will be a massive hit, and the buzz will be loud enough going into the following week to drown out the potential iPhone announcement, OR the Pre buzz quickly loses steam following launch, drowned out by the well-established Apple fanboy crowd. The potential for loss on this toss of the dice is pretty great.
That's why I'm making one additional prediction: Palm drops another bomb on release day. Probably some yet-unseen killer app that the iPhone doesn't have. I'm guessing something that exploits the multitasking capabilities, and furthermore, can't be done via push. Palm needs something more just after the release to keep the unique multitasking abilities of the Pre in the front of people's minds right through the iPhone announcement.
If I'm right, you can say you heard it here first.
Update 5/20/2009: So close.