Just a week ago we were lauding the success of the Palm Pre with its 50,000 unit opening weekend. Earlier today we got news that the iPhone 3GS has sold 1M units at launch, despite having the “smallest” launch for the device to date.

Samsung enters the fray walking tall and carrying forty pound sledge: the Samsung Jet. According to Samsung, they’ve received 2M preorders for their WinMo smartphone. The Jet runs on the same 800MHz processor as the 3GS, though the iPhones is underclocked. The Jet also has an AMOLED screen and a 5MP camera, two improvements over the iPhone. It comes with Windows Mobile 6.1 installed, which isn’t everyone’s favorite touch platform. An update to 6.5 could be a serious improvement for WinMo users.

The Jet preorder sales make it the largest handset order Samsung has ever seen. The phone will be available at the end of the month.

Nokia’s hoping some star power and a little Nostalgia will you get you itching for an N97. The ad is a remixed version of ‘Mama Said Knock You Out’ by LL Cool J. It’s full of snappy one-liners like, “don’t call it a comeback” and, “over the competition I’m towerin’.” If only your phone wasn’t $700, Nokia. If only. You can see the whole video below.

Coming between what are probably the two biggest smartphone launches of the year, Nokia unveiled their new contender to the throne, the N97. The Finnish phone maker packed their newest device with plenty of features you’d want in a decent phone. There’s just one thing they overlooked – price.

The N97 comes in at a whopping $700. Of course, that’s outside contract, which serves to explain the price. Plenty of cells, including this year’s big launches, would sell for that amount if purchased without a contract. The problem, for Nokia at least, is that American consumers are so conditioned to contract subsidized pricing that $700 is going to feel like a swift kick to the groin.

Feature by feature, the N97 closely matches the Palm Pre and the iPhone 3GS. It’s got 32GB of internal memory, a multi-touch touchscreen, and a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Nokia has said on several occasions that they would like to be more competitive in the U.S. market. How they hope to do that with phones at more than double the major carriers’ premium prices is beyond me.

You know what they say, though; freedom isn’t free, but aside from the folks who really despise contracts, I doubt you’ll see many N95s in hand this summer.