Palm Pre Launch Breaks Sprint Sales Record

Posted By: Ryan Kairer Monday, June 8, 2009 4:12:19 PM

Sprint Pre Sales RecordSprint has issued a new press release this afternoon that says the Palm Pre broke Sprints own record for a new phone debut. Despite the numerous unconfirmed analyst reports of over 50,000 sold, Sprint has not released any actual sales numbers. Rather they state:

By late Sunday, Palm Pre had broken previous sales records (first day and first weekend) for a Sprint device.

The release also confirms that many Sprint locations have sold out of their initial launch inventory. Sprint says they are "getting the device in to its retail locations as fast as Palm can make them."

"Sprint is a very different company than it was 12 months ago," said Dan Hesse, president and chief executive officer. "Palm Pre is the coming out party for the new Sprint. It is the perfect device that highlights all of the positive changes in our company, including our revolutionary Ready Now retail store experience, greatly improved customer care, unmatched value pricing plans and America's most dependable 3G network."

The full release can be read here.

Article Comments

 (21 comments)

The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PalmInfocenter is not responsible for them in any way.
Please Login or register here to add your comments.

Start a new Comment Down

'Sprint device'

puk @ 6/8/2009 5:06:22 PM # Q
This is not a Sprint device, it is a Palm device. If we ever want to see some decent competition in handsets, we're going to have to untie them from the carriers who use other companies' innovation to lock customers in rather than competing on price or services.
Reply to this comment

Trouble ahead

zinzan @ 6/8/2009 10:32:22 PM # Q
The $99 dollar 8GB iPhone might start to cause a few problems for the Pre now though.
"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"
RE: Trouble ahead
DarthRepublican @ 6/9/2009 1:58:50 AM # Q
Presumably the Eos is supposed to address this issue. Of course the Eos only have 4GB of storage and a smaller screen....Hopefully this development combined will strong early sales of the Pre will encourage Palm to come out 16 and 32GB models sooner rather than later.
Screw convergence
Palm III->Visor Deluxe->Visor Platinum->Visor Prism->Tungsten E->Palm LifeDrive->Palm TX
Visor Pro+VisorPhone->Treo 180g->Treo 270->Treo 600->Treo 680->T-Mobile G1
http://mind-grapes.blogspot.com/
RE: Trouble ahead
SeldomVisitor @ 6/9/2009 3:06:28 AM # Q
If the Pre could be called vaporware until intro - and it sure could (*) - then "EOS" is beyond that state.

I'm glad you know the full specs though - that's so cool.

==========

(*) In fact, based on what is NOT there with the Pre that HAS been introduced, the Pre can ==still== be called vaporware.

RE: Trouble ahead
freakout @ 6/9/2009 4:32:26 AM # Q
Oh, there goes that wacky SeldomVisitor again and his crazy personal definitions for words!

Vaporware is a term used to describe a product, usually software, that has been announced by a developer during or before its development and, therefore, may never actually be released. The term is usually applied to products which fail to emerge after having well-exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware

So yeah, you could call the Pre "vaporware". Just like someone could call you "sane"...

RE: Trouble ahead
LiveFaith @ 6/9/2009 6:37:43 AM # Q
Oh no! Is this e-Tellurian with a makeover?
Pat Horne
RE: Trouble ahead
SeldomVisitor @ 6/9/2009 6:54:10 AM # Q
Epocrates - not there.

"Knows when you are going to be late and will email ahead to the other attendees telling them that and when you will be there" - not there.

Facebook - not there (unless you call a link to a webpage "there"...giggle).

Etc etc etc.

Vaporware.

RE: Trouble ahead
vetdoctor @ 6/9/2009 9:05:48 AM # Q
Epocrates - not there

Small thing. You can go to their webpage. Later, when the program is available for free, download it.

"Knows when you are going to be late and will email ahead to the other attendees telling them that and when you will be there" - not there.

Facebook - not there (unless you call a link to a webpage "there"...giggle).

This is significant. Especially the late/email thing. I wonder what the legal ramifications are for those who rushed into the store and bought it expecting these "in the phone" features. I don't follow every word on the Pre. Has Palm acknowledged these problems and addressed it?

In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician.
- Chesterton

RE: Trouble ahead
SeldomVisitor @ 6/9/2009 9:20:03 AM # Q
Epocrates isn't free. Initially, it was going to be (or implied to be) a native application. Then it became a "Get the Classic emulator and run the PalmOS version on that". As of the last posts I read abnout it it's "Can;t get it to run under Classic" (not to mention the multiple reports that Classic itself is so beta as to be unreliable.

I cannot imagine a doctor switching to a Pre if he/she is an Epocrates user.

I'm no longer sure WHAT Facebook is on the Pre. It =looks= from posts that it is a link to a special website that works with Safari or something.

RE: Trouble ahead
ewl @ 6/9/2009 2:01:16 PM # Q
Epocrates comes in free flavor and premium version.
It is probably the best medication database out there for physicians. Because it is a large application and one that updates itself constantly (as new drugs come out or new interactions are recognized), it may not run easily on emulator. Physicians/nurses/ pharmacists/physician assistants who love epocrates will want it to run natively. Palm used to own the medical sector which was very loyal at least until blackberry and windows made head way. (medical sector is not a huge sector but one that was pretty reliable/conservative)
When Iphone came out, epocrates did NOT fully support it. Rather there was a simple link to website (epocrates has webbased application also). I think there is a full iphone app now due to iphone popularity.
Reply to this comment

.025% of the way there

Nycran @ 6/9/2009 2:03:56 AM # Q
What I find interesting is the sheer number of units that Palm has to sell to break even. We know that Elevation partners invested $400 million into the company, so if we assume that Palm pockets say $199 on each unit purchase, they need to sell 2 million phones to get there. So far they are .025% of the way there! That 400 million was a long term investment, that's for sure.
RE: .025% of the way there
zuhmir @ 6/9/2009 5:47:33 AM # Q
I think that if the Palm Pre makes profit large enough to support the development of the next generation of WebOS devices than it's doing good enough.
The investments are not loans. If Palm succeeds, the Investors will profit too.
RE: .025% of the way there
LiveFaith @ 6/9/2009 6:35:48 AM # Q
Nycran,

I think you mean .025 of the way there. Or 2.5% of the way there. Am I wrong? I am a victim of public education, but I believe that 50K is 2.5% of 2M, not .025%. That's assuming the 50K # is accurate. Others have reported 150K.
Either way, not to shabby for the first two days. I'm sure EP is pleased. Now, lets hope 49K don't come back with dead pixels.
Pat Horne

RE: .025% of the way there
nastebu @ 6/9/2009 8:35:01 AM # M Q
If the estimates range from 50k-150k the obvious conclusion is the analysts are making wild guesses. The weekend after iPhone day one the estimates were one million!

I don't know anything about such things, but from the lift in the stock price I'd think Elecation has already made their money back?

RE: .025% of the way there
EdH @ 6/9/2009 8:50:44 AM # Q
I'd be surprised if Palm pocketed $20 per phone. The rest of the $199 goes to Sprint, advertising and the manufacturer for raw materials and labor.

That means they are .25% of the way there. Yes, .25%. And really not that far as they still need to pay for rent, salaries, etc.

RE: .025% of the way there
vetdoctor @ 6/9/2009 8:59:03 AM # Q
Why would Sprint get the lion's share of the $199? They make their money off the contract, not the phone.
In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician.
- Chesterton
RE: .025% of the way there
vetdoctor @ 6/9/2009 9:10:36 AM # Q
and...

Sprint CEO Dan Hesse remarked today that Verizon needs to "check their facts" regarding their ability to offer the Pre in six months. Speaking to CNET at a press event today the Sprint chief told a reporter:

"That just is not the case. Both Palm and Sprint have agreed not to discuss the length of the exclusivity deal. But I can tell you it's not six months."

You're telling me that Palm is just letting Sprint have their way for 6+ months for $20/phone? I don't believe it.
In short, I had always believed that the world involved magic: now I thought that perhaps it involved a magician.
- Chesterton

RE: .025% of the way there
SeldomVisitor @ 6/9/2009 9:16:07 AM # Q
W.r.t. the "analyst's" "analysis", yes, they appear to often be WILD unfounded guesses.

But we can make guesses that aren't wild.

You can use the number of venues and fairly certain estimates of Pres per venue.

Or you can use Palm's own words on, for example, number of application downloads for the weekend.

Either of THOSE and you can derive something like 50,000 plus or minus 20,000 Pres sold last weekend.


RE: .025% of the way there
jca666us @ 6/9/2009 9:32:26 AM # M Q
not great numbers but not horrible - the sprint and bestbuy stores by me sold out - but they only had 2 phones each.

A greater number of pre's at launch might not have necessarily sold out.

RE: .025% of the way there
Barksfan @ 6/9/2009 9:18:39 PM # Q
Don't forget all the add-ons that they make money from as well - cases, rechargers, software, etc. Apple derives a great deal of their I-Phone revenue from software (seems like I heard 10 or 20 percent) Course they have a lot more apps to sell at the moment.

I

RE: .025% of the way there
SeldomVisitor @ 6/10/2009 3:05:56 AM # Q
If the touchstone actually costs $5 in materials then Palm is really REALLY cleaning up in accessories sales.

Reply to this comment
Start a New Comment Thread Top

Account

Register Register | Login Log in
user:
pass:

Latest Comments

  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST((SELECT/**/CASE/**/IS_SRVROLEMEM
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000
  • My comments --1' OR UNICODE(SUBSTRING((SELECT/**/ISNULL(CAST(db_name()/**/AS/**/NVARCHAR(4000