Palm Pre Fans Buy Out Thin Stock at Sprint and Best Buy Stores
After months of waiting for the Palm Pre to be released, fans lined up at Sprint Nextel stores, as well as Best Buy locations, early and bought up every single one at some stores. There was actually only a limited supply of the new touch-screen phone, where some Best Buy stores actually reported only having three on hand.
Jennifer Fritzche, a Wachovia Securities Inc. analyst, said that the Sprint stores in Chicago only received about 30 to 50 of the Pres, and some of these locations are anticipating new shipments today. Fritzche says that she can’t find any of the devices, as they are sold out everywhere. This may actually help the mobile company, she added, because they have created quite a buzz. Sprint and Palm have already seen shares jump this year in anticipation of the Pre’s debut, after coming from a loss of customers and decline in sales.
The Palm Pre was announced in January, and some say that it will be the device to beat out the iPhone from Apple. Waiting lists have now been started by stores, so that customers will be able to get one of the phones when they come in, according to Karen Paletta, the manager for one of Sprint’s Northeast stores.
The Pre is selling for $199 with a $100 mail-in rebate and a two-year contract at some stores. The operating system on the phone can combine messages, contacts and calendars from different accounts. Plus, it can be synchronized with the iTunes music store from Apple and has a screen for zooming in and flipping through applications without closing them. Many first impressions of the device have been positive.