Annoyingly, you won't be able to get a Palm Pre for the advertised $199 without redeeming a $100 mail-in rebate—something Sprint is depending on you not doing. Solution: get yours at Best Buy. UPDATED


A PR rep for the company has confirmed to us that the Pre's $100 rebate, originally announced as a mail-in affair, will be instantly deducted at the register in Best Buy stores. In other words, Best Buy will take care of the rebate process for you. In other other words, just buy your Pre at the Big Blue, and save yourself the pain.


UPDATE: A Radio Shack rep has gotten back to us:

RadioShack will also be honoring the mail-in rebate instantly.

Like Best Buy, processing mail-in rebates immediately is standard practice for them. Good to know, though. [Best Buy]