Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel CEO Dan Hesse spoke to SFGate, mostly about customer service and churn, but the last question was about how important Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre is to Sprint, and I think that answer ties everything in together. Said Hesse: “In today’s market, iconic devices, no question, they move the needle, they grab attention. And we’re very excited about the Palm Pre. I will give (BlackBerry manufacturer) Research In Motion credit for creating a great business phone and the iPhone, I give it credit for being a great consumer device. This is the first one I believe that really crosses both. It’s an outstanding business device and it’s also a whole life consumer device. It’s a combination of a superb touch screen with a physical keypad, which is, for a heavy e-mailer and texter, a must. We think it’s going to be a very successful device.” Despite improvements in customer service and network quality Sprint is still losing customers, and Hesse notes that the economic downturn is likely to hit hard because Sprint has a large base of business customers. The aim of the Palm Pre is to attract new customers with the gee-whiz phone, and being Palm it’s likely to appeal to Sprint’s business customers.

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Sprint definitely plans a big push for the handset, since its exclusivity is for far less time than (for example) AT&T’s with the iPhone—probably six months according to the Kansas City Business Journal. Mike Gikas, associate editor of mobile electronics for Consumer Reports, told the paper that the Pre could be a game changer if it performs as well as it did in the demo but that “in our surveys, [Sprint] just doesn’t do well”. Which goes back to Hesse talking about an iconic device grabbing attention—he’s hoping people will switch to get the Pre in the same way people switched to get the iPhone. Forrester analyst Charles Golvin gave hope to this, pointing out that Palm has a loyal user base and “a certain segment of the market is enamored with the iPhone but would prefer a physical keypad”.

Sprint is tying in its loyalty program to gadgets, of which the Pre is the premier one. The rewards program gives early upgrades to new handsets at a heavily subsidized price after one year instead of two, and also gives customers a first look at new products and services reports Information Week. That could mean that “Sprint Premier” members will be among the first to get the chance to buy the Pre. As usual rumours of various launch dates have abounded, the most recent being March 15—although ComputerWorld notes that date is actually the end-of-life for the Palm 755p, which it says the Pre is replacing, and the launch date for the Pre is likely to be a few months later. This is based on a memo obtained by BoyGeniusReport.

In terms of content and application, Palm Infocenter notes that unofficial Palm Pre “DevCamps” are already being planned.