eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Toot, toot. That would be Palm on its own horn, and why not-on June 30, the Palm WebOS blog announced that Palm has sold an estimated 370,000 Palm Pre smartphones and is churning 15,000 Pre units off the assembly line each day.
Citing Barron’s and Charter Equity Research Principal Analyst Ed Snyder, in a June 30 post on PalmWebOS.org the unnamed writer said analysts expect Palm to sell 1 million Pre smartphones within the first quarter of its availability.
Click here to read about Palm’s fourth-quarter profits.
“As I always like to remind you, this isn’t just about the Pre but about WebOS as a whole,” wrote the blogger, who additionally quoted analyst expectations that a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) version of the Pre is “imminent for select international markets” and that “non-Pre WebOS phones from Verizon and AT&T will likely launch in very early 2010.”
On June 22, Palm updated WebOS to Version 1.0.3 and announced that the SDK (software development kit) would be available to developers late in summer 2009. “How much more attractive will it make WebOS phones when the App Catalog is packed to the brim with awesome apps and games?” wrote the PalmWebOS.org blogger.
While there are currently only about 30 applications in Palm’s App Catalog-versus more than 50,000 in Apple’s App Store-the App Catalog has already had over 1 million downloads.
“The numbers suggest there may be something more at work than just a fly-by-night success,” said Charles King, principal analyst with Pund-IT. Early excitement might account for a few hundred thousand devices, he said, “But if you hit the 1 million mark, there’s an indication that the vendor is doing something very right.”
King continued, “It’s critical for vendors, and especially new vendors … to realize that while there’s a great deal of value in the design of the handset, the quality of their partners is also critical. Sprint has been very aggressive with its pricing on the Pre, and they’re really going after AT&T and Apple. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out in the next few months.”
The PalmWebOS.org blogger couldn’t agree more, concluding, “If the stock price keeps rising when Palm posts losses, just imagine what will happen next year when Pre profits are still being reported and a bunch more WebOS phones are available for sale.”