Tech Rumor of the Day: Palm's Pre Hasn't Flopped
S , PALM , RIMM , VZ , GOOG , NOK , MOT , AAPL — Sprint (S Quote) has sold a healthy 350,000 Palm (PALM Quote) Pre phones in the seven weeks since its debut. — The update comes from RBC analyst Mike Abramsky whose research team …
Context & Ripple Effects
The Pre launched June 6 to what Palm's CEO framed as a platform story — webOS bigger than just one device — and by early June analysts had already called the launch a success while eyeing inventory replenishment as the real test of demand. Sprint's stock had run up 20% back in February on the exclusivity deal itself.
Since then the narrative has turned against Palm: an unconfirmed report on July 20 claimed Pre defects are hitting earnings, and coverage has flagged hardware complaints plus the ongoing iTunes sync flap. RBC's Mike Abramsky now supplies the first hard-ish number — 350,000 sold in seven weeks per his research — which is why this rumor-of-the-day matters: with neither Palm nor Sprint disclosing unit sales, sell-through estimates from analysts are doing the work of earnings guidance.
First-order effects
- Palm gets a demand datapoint that directly counters the defect-and-earnings-damage narrative from days earlier, giving the company ammunition ahead of its own reporting.
- Sprint's exclusivity bet is validated in the short term: 350,000 units in seven weeks is a defensible attach rate for a carrier whose subscriber base has been shrinking.
Second-order effects
- Verizon and other carriers watching these estimates face a pricing question — whether to bid to break Sprint's exclusivity or wait for Palm's second device, which TechCrunch reported was coming later in 2009.
- Apple's response to Palm's iPod-mimicking iTunes sync workaround becomes more consequential as the installed base grows; a firmware block would hit every one of those 350,000 users' media sync.
Third-order effects
- If analyst channel checks remain the only public read on Pre demand, third-party estimates will effectively set Palm's valuation between earnings reports — a structural dependence on sell-through signals rather than disclosed figures.
- The episode reinforces a shift already visible in 2009: handset competition judged on platform momentum (SDK availability, developer portals, app ecosystems) rather than single-device launches, which is exactly how Palm is positioning webOS.
The trend: Smartphone demand in 2009 is being priced off analyst sell-through estimates and platform ecosystem signals rather than official vendor disclosures, with webOS fighting to prove it belongs alongside iPhone OS and BlackBerry OS.