And for You, Mr. McNamee? Ah, Yes–The Boiled Crow Sandwich.
by John Paczkowski
Posted on July 2, 2009 at 12:01 PM PT
“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”
– Palm investor Roger McNamee
Palm (PALM) seems to have satiated pent-up early demand for its new Pre smartphone, constrained supplies be damned. In a pair of investor notes issued today, analysts at Pali Research and JP Morgan say that sales of the Pre have tapered off to a point where supply and demand are roughly in parity.
“We have concluded our 3rd round of channel checks for the Pre,” writes JP Morgan analyst Paul Coster, who notes that demand for the handset is hovering at about 40,000 per week. “The gap between supply and demand has closed at Sprint and BestBuy stores, waitlists are eliminated or down, and most stores now have Pre devices in stock.”
Pali Research analyst Walter Piecyk also surveyed the Pre landscape and reached a similar conclusion, though he sees the slowing of sales as a bit more pronounced. “We believe that Palm Pre sales have slowed over the past week for Sprint to under 40,000 from 50,000-60,000 last week,” he writes. “…We suspect that if sales continue to moderate, Sprint would increase its marketing budget for the product. The marketing budget behind the product has been somewhat limited to date compared to the marketing push that Apple does.”
Indeed. And let’s not forget that Apple (AAPL) has a new handset on the market that’s been selling quite well. Makes you wonder if this ebb in demand for the Pre is somehow related.
Guess it’s looking like Palm investor Roger McNamee’s hyperbolic predictions about iPhone-to-Pre conversion aren’t going to quite pan out.
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Comments
This guy is Ballmer level irritant.
Posted by David Owens at July 2nd, 2009 at 12:27 pmThe coda to this comment is the video Palm showed at the Pre launch where they walked these comments back as much as they could, making it out like Bill Gates, Jr. here was off his meds.
I tried to consider the Pre when I was shopping for a replacement for my original iPhone, but the Pre was so 2007. It’s not an upgrade for original iPhone, but rather it’s a clone of the original iPhone. To use a Pre I would have to go back in time to 8GB, no 3rd party apps, OS 1.0 compromises, and only 1 carrier and only 1 country.
I spent the same $299 from the Pre on an iPhone 3GS and got 32GB and a video camera for free. The 3GS is specifically made to be a desirable upgrade for original iPhone in a way that Pre is simply not.
Posted by Fred Hamranhansenhansen at July 7th, 2009 at 3:36 pm