CORP TALK: Palm’s highly anticipated Palm Pre smartphone has yet to have a firm release date or hit the store shelves but already research firm, iSuppli has come up with an estimated hardware and manufacturing cost for the device.

According to Reuters, the Pre smartphone will cost around US$170 to make, based on 2nd quarter component and assembly prices. Of course, there is no doubt that the Pre, touting its WebOS operating system and multi-touch screen features, is squarely aimed at competing against Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones.

iSuppli projects that Palm will try to have wireless carrier Sprint Nextel to sell the smartphone for US$300 but with a subsidized plan, the final price should hover around the US$200 range.