That is a question raised by Cnet although they say Palm is fortunate Nokia does not yet have any US carrier partners for the Nokia N97.
The new Nokia could well challenge the Palm Pre if they were on the same level price wise, but due to the Nokia N97 being unsubsidised by a carrier it will cost $699 whereas the Palm Pre will cost $199.
If it wasn’t for that price subsidy the Nokia N97 could put a dampener on early sales of the Palm Pre which is due release on June the 6th, but unfortunately that big price differential makes the N97 challenging the Pre a bit of a non-starter.
I totally agree. I am purchasing a Pre but if the N97 were available to Sprint, I would rather have that handset. It is really unfortunate no carrier has picked up the N97. The price is just too high for US buyers.