Sprint will release Palm Pre on June 6

Sprint Nextel Corp.???s Palm Pre will hit stores on June 6.

The touch-screen smartphone, which has generated buzz since early this year despite release details being kept secret, is viewed as a crucial device for both Sprint (NYSE: S) and device-maker Palm Inc. (Nasdaq: PALM), which have struggled in their industries.

The phone will cost $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a $100 mail-in rebate, and be available in Sprint stores and at Best Buy, Radio Shack, certain Wal-Mart stores and Sprint???s Web site, the Overland Park-based carrier said in a Tuesday release.

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With Palm???s new webOS mobile platform, the phone can integrate information from multiple places into one calendar, contacts list or e-mail view, and support professional, social, entertainment and personal data.

???The argument that you need one phone for work and another phone for play, or that you have to make compromises between business and lifestyle productivity, is over,??? Sprint CEO Dan Hesse said in the release.

The phone will be paired with Sprint???s Everything Data plans, the release said. Accessories for the Pre include the Palm Touchstone charging dock, a magnetic charger that doesn???t need to be plugged into the phone.

Sprint ranks No. 1 on the Kansas City Business Journal???s list of area public companies.