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Palm Pre goes on sale amid lines, tight supply
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A number of stores sold out of the much-hyped Palm Pre amid tight supply, according to reports. Customers across the country lined up during the launch weekend to get the phone, which Palm believes will turn around its fortunes and Sprint Nextel hopes will attract postpaid subscribers. However, the lines were not the kind that stretched for blocks, as when Apple's iPhone first launched two years ago.
Sprint also held launch events in various cities across the country for select customers Friday ahead of Saturday's nationwide availability. FierceWireless covered a launch event in New York City, where many long-time Sprint customers waited in line for the Pre.
Various analysts described the launch as a success. Jonathan Atkin, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, told Bloomberg News that he thought fewer than 100,000 Pre units were sold during the weekend. Other analysts predicted that as few as 50,000 to as many as 200,000. Both Sprint and Palm declined to comment on sales of the Pre.
For the full year, UBS expects Palm to sell a total of 1.6 million Pres, while iSuppli expects around 1.1 million Pre sales. The numbers would be a boon to Palm, given UBS estimates a gross margin on the product of 33 percent. However, Pre sales may not represent Sprint's Holy Grail; UBS estimates Sprint will add 330,000 gross subscribers by the end of 2009 via the Pre, which equates to around 2 percent of the industry's gross adds.
Meanwhile, customers are reporting some glitches with the Pre, according to the blog Engadget. There were various reports of distorted or discolored displays and unexpected system shutdowns. One glitch that had many users upset was the apparent inability of text fields in the Pre's Web browser to support symbols that are not available on the phone's keyboard.
With the Pre launch officially underway, industry watchers now can speculate about Palm's next steps. In a Friday press release, iSuppli posited on whether Palm will release a GSM version of the Pre this year, potentially destined for international markets, and whether Palm will license its webOS platform to other manufacturers (as it did with the original Palm OS). The company hasn't made official announcements on either front.
And beyond the Pre, all eyes are now on Apple, which is expected to unveil a new version of the iPhone later today at its developer's conference in San Francisco.
For more:
- see this Reuters article
- see this Bloomberg News article
- see this San Jose Business Journal article
- see this Engadget post
Related Articles:
Hesse: Pre launch is 'coming-out party' for Sprint
Review roundup: Palm Pre
Sprint, Palm planning 'war rooms' for Pre launch
McAdam: Verizon to sell Palm Pre, Android phones
Sound off: Palm Pre
Comments
Posted by Jason Lackey | June 8, 2009 - 12:09pm
As the demo guy at InnoPath, part of my job is to stay on top of the latest and greatest in mobile devices. Thus Saturday found me in a Sunnyvale Sprint store checking out the Pre.
Pros: sweet UI, responsive, multitasks, browser is nice, platform seems at least as good as Android and a potential iPhone challenger. Performance on Sprint data network was good.
Cons: portrait instead of landscape slider, thus keyboard is small. Phone feels somewhat plasticy and gritty
Judgement: not an iPhone killer, but if you can live with CDMA then it might be an Android killer. This platform has strong potential.
Posted by Anonymous | June 9, 2009 - 7:31am
PRE is upstaged.
iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G iPhone 3G
Posted by Anonymous | June 11, 2009 - 2:42pm
You're a funny guy. The iPhone may be a great device, but you can put a cool and expensive saddle on a broken down horse and the horse will still not be able to carry the rider.
The secret is out on AT&T's network as stated in FierceTelecom's June 9th email alert.
"AT&T has never been a favorite of iPhone users, who consider it to be monolithic and a throwback to the old-style carrier model. Its network is so-so at best, and its customer service can be a nightmare to navigate. Yesterday, Apple read off a list of carriers supporting iPhone tethering. Missing? AT&T, which also won’t support sending photos as SMS messages until later this summer. Even the mention of the telecom drew boos from attendees."
And if you want to get CNET News' opinion you should check out their video on You Tube under "CNET Buzz Report - Face it: the iPhone sucks"
Everyone has piled on Sprint for a couple of years now. Much of it was well deserved, but ALL THINGS CHANGE, and new management has been in charge for over a year now. If you have not checked out Sprint for a while you are missing a different and much better experience. Are they perfect? No, but there are plenty of unhappy customers on the other carriers as well.
AT&T has typically ridden their name until performance can no longer be ignored and that time is coming. They are consistantly falling 4th in Customer service and theoretically their network is "fastest" but in practical usage the commentary from Fierce tells the tale.
The iPhone may be great, but funtionally it has to be used on a network that is crumbling under the weight, and just remember you have to pay top dollar on AT&T's network for the priviledge of poor performance.
Posted by you mama | June 24, 2009 - 7:17am
I have used different cell phone carriers through my work, the best one so far is Sprint. So ha ha and screw the Iphone.
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