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After a long wait, the highly-anticipated debut of Palm's smartphone, the Pre, is finally set just around the corner. The Pre is set to be released on June 6, putting to end the long waiting game that Palm's fans have had to endure. But even when people are saving the date, the Pre's release is still shrouded with skepticism and doubt.

We all know the procrastination that led to Palm's downfall in recent years. Only three years ago, Palm's operating system enjoyed 40% of the market share, and Blackberry at only 28%. But just this year, their share had dropped to 10% as Blackberry's rapidly-evolving OS took the lead. Palm even fell behind Apple, whose OS now enjoys over twice Palm's market share.

I remember writing about the Palm Pre months ago, and the news that Palm is only releasing it now is enough to make me shake my head -- will this procrastination lead to Palm's final demise? This remains to be seen, as Palm's execs themselves have expressed that the company's future depends on the success of the Pre.

Bleak forecasts notwithstanding, it's still questionable whether the Pre will make a splash anywhere near as big as the one the iPhone 3G made. For instance, everyone was hoping the Pre would at least match the iPhone's $199 price tag. The Pre WILL be sold at $199.99, but only after a $100 rebate. And does everyone really avail of rebates? Exactly.

And the question bears repeating: What took them so long?

The Pre is pretty much like most other smartphones out in the market today -- it's touchscreen, sleek, and has a slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Its only edge over other smartphones is Palm's new operating system, WebOS. This OS is particularly what will make or break the Pre.

WebOS's major selling point is that it lets users multitask -- that is, users can leave applications open while opening another. This is one of the iPhone's major drawbacks, and the Pre will supposedly capitalize on it.

With rumors of Apple developing the same kind of background App support in the next iPhone firmware upgrade, Pre might be in a world of hurt. At this point, I think Palm fans are simply glad that the Pre won't hit store shelves any later than it will.