Slowing Palm Pre Sales Actually Not Slowing
by John Paczkowski
Posted on July 10, 2009 at 11:46 AM PT
Are sales of the Pre slowing or not? Without official numbers from Palm or Sprint, it’s nearly impossible to tell. But that hasn’t stopped analysts from taking a stab at it. Earlier this week, Pali Research analyst Walter Piecyk issued a research note claiming channel checks show a gradual tapering off of Pre sales, from an estimated 50,000-60,000 units sold the week ending June 26 to just over 30,000 last week.
Today brings another Palm-related research note, this one from Pacific Crest analyst James Faucette. He claims that Pre sales are “robust.” According to Faucette’s channel checks, Palm is selling about 40,000 Pres per week, a “normalized” sell-through rate that he says will continue through August.
So who’s right? Piecyk or Faucette? Who knows? Until Palm (PALM) and Sprint (S) go on record with real sales metrics, we’ll have to use our imaginations. Which is pretty much what all these analysts appear to be doing right now, anyway. Honestly, they might as well be issuing research notes on jelly bean jar guessing games.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, Palm and Sprint are not willing to release sales numbers right now. Reached for comment, Sprint told me, “We’re excited by the response to Palm Pre. Demand continues to be strong, and we are working closely with our partners at Palm to meet the needs of every customer as quickly as possible.” And Palm told me me to call Sprint…
Comments
don’t you get tired of the spin from these companies?
palm pre?
iphone already won
Posted by Sam Harrison at July 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pmThe truth is the Pre met all its expectations. The iPhone still can’t Multi-Function, still doesn’t have the ability to change the battery and lacks a qwerty keyboard. Compared to the 3G it is much faster and better. Compared to the GS it is a closer call. The GS has extra memory, hence it appears to be slightly faster, but memory can be added by any vendor at a cost of $15 per 8Gigs from any third party and in this case the consumer is charged an extra $100 by ATT. Now, let us see what is new, a compass, big deal! a Landscaped virtual keyboard, still not a qwerty keyboard! improved camera from 2MP to 3MP, still lacks a flash! Cut and Paste capability, Ok it already existed on the Pre. The Pre at launch already had a 3MP camera with a flash, and it also had ‘cut & paste.’ The GS added a video capability, however it still doesn’t make up for its lack of Multi-Fuctioning and lack of a flash. Don’t forget the iPhone has been around for over 2 years while the Pre has only been around for a month. Give it some time and you will be surprised how well the Pre does in the US and Abroad. What Apple fans don’t understand is that they think that the Pre can only succeed if Apple fails, which is categorically wrong. In actuality I think they will both benefit from one another. Good competition is what Apple needs to foster better innovation and I feel no company to date other than Palm has truly produced a device that can do that. I do prefer the Pre however that does not mean I dislike the iPhone. For me the Pre feels better and I enjoy its interacting with its User Interface.
Posted by darius arya at July 10th, 2009 at 2:12 pm