Me: ”I was wondering, did you by any chance have a staff meeting this morning? I've heard some stores did.”
Sprint: “We did, yes. Why do you ask?”
Me: “Because it was brought to my attention that the Palm Pre might have been discussed in these meetings and I just want to confirm that.”
Sprint: “It was one of the many topics touched upon, yes.”
Me: "Am I right to assume you don't know the exact release date yet?"
Sprint: "That's correct."
Me: “But you do know when training will begin for the Palm Pre's release...”
Sprint: “Yes, we will be training throughout the month of May to be ready for launch.”
Me: “When does training begin?”
Sprint: “That depends on when we have the resources available to us. Could be as early as next week or it could be later on in the month.”
Me: "But either way, you have to be trained by the end of the month, correct?"
Sprint: "That's our goal, yes."
Me: "And you've already named the device advocate for the Pre for your store?"
Sprint: "Yes, we did that this morning."
Me: "Do you know if you'll be taking pre-orders for the phone at your store?"
Sprint: "I can't say for certain but what I can say is that nothing about pre-ordering has been mentioned to us. That doesn't mean it won't be but as of now, there seem to be no plans for pre-orders of any of our phones."
Me: "Thank you for your time."
Sprint: "No problem."
You don't have to take my word for it, I encourage you to dig around yourselves so you can confirm what I've told you. It seems the stores aren't being as quiet as you'd expect.
Also, here's another little bit more confirmation. Looks like my info was solid:
http://palmgoon.com/confirmed-sprint-staff-training-for-palm-pre-begins-next-week/