Sprint CEO: Expect Palm Pre shortages
(Credit:
Bonnie Cha/CNET)
Apple iPhone aside, it's pretty safe to say that there hasn't been so much hype and anticipation over an upcoming smartphone as the Palm Pre. The tech community was all abuzz on Tuesday when Sprint and Palm finally announced the pricing and release date, but could there already be rough waters ahead?
Speaking at an investor conference on Tuesday, Sprint CEO Dan Hesse warned of likely Pre shortages:
"We don't intend to advertise it heavily early on because we think we are going to have shortages for a while. We won't be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time."
There aren't any concrete numbers as to how many units will be available, but some sites like Precentral.net are estimating that it may be around 375,000, which will be distributed nationwide to Sprint, Best Buy, Radio Shack, and Walmart stores. Now, I'm not the best with numbers but even I can tell that's not a lot of phones to spread around.
What's worse? Sprint and Palm may be doing this on purpose. In a report by Bloomberg, some analysts say the companies may limit the supply to make the Pre look more appealing to potential customers. Now, there's no confirmation of this but if true, I have to agree with fellow blogger Don Reisinger in saying that this is just wrong. This is such a pivotal moment for both Sprint and Palm that 1) you would think they'd want to sell as many phones as possible and 2) you don't want to piss off your customers.
We'll see how it all plays out when the smartphone goes on sale on June 6, but let's hope there's plenty of Pre love for everyone. Out of curiosity, does anyone plan on lining up early to get the Palm Pre on opening day?
(Source: PCMag.com)
Bonnie Cha is a senior editor for CNET, covering smartphones and GPS. When she's not testing the latest gadgets, you can find her chasing after her crazy lab or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California. E-mail Bonnie. 
The only difference is Steve Jobs is much smarter in that he doesn't announce that there will be shortages.
You can create your own ringtones from anything in your iTunes (read:mp3) library, or with a free 3rd party ringtone editor from the App store. Keep up dude.
I returned my iPhone I received for Christmas when I heard about the pre so that I could stay with Sprint. I felt like I was being ripped off by AT&T, not to mention all the dropped calls I encountered during the two weeks with my iPhone. Gimme Sprint, and gimme the Pre.
I live next to the Sprint World HQ in Kansas City, and i had sprint for 3 months. I , and others with sprint including employees and family of employees, have gotten so tired of the poor service even in the shadow of the HQ, that many(including me) have switched to AT&T and Verizon. And not to mention that by the end of the year Sprint will be behind Verizon and AT&T as they both boost their speeds and even release REAL 4g. I can't wait. Sorry to rain on ur Sprint Parade.
You're going to wait a long while to buy a phone with more expensive costs for less impressive speeds and features. If you still think Verizon is better, remember they are both CDMA networks and have a sharing agreement for towers. Why pay $160 a month when $99 is obviously the way to go?
You want to know why people hate Sprint? If you have lousy phones coupled with horrible phone coverage and top it off with the worst customer service in the industry, you have the makings of a horrible cell phone provider. Their 3G network is absolutely pathetic and the performance is spotty at best. From what I see from your post you are either totally lucky or you work for Sprint and are trying to appear impartial.
Now Sprint's CEO is saying that they will expect shortages on Palm phones? Well normally that would be a shrewd marketing move, but Palm lost its recipe for good smartphone design years ago - I even told their executive staff that which fell on deaf ears. For as far as I am concerned, Sprint can have Palm - they both deserve each other.
Now don't get me wrong, I hate AT&T as well (Pacific Bell was a horrible wireless provider and I was ready to throw my phone out the window when I heard that they acquired AT&T wireless, a VASTLY superior provider in every way), but at least you can unlock their phones and use them abroad which you can't say for Sprint's lousy ones.
@watchurbak21:
I couldn't agree with you more. I used to work at Sprint and I dumped my phone and bought an AT&T Wireless one (pre-Pac Bell merger) which was infinitely better even out there. It stuns me that they can actually stay in business with such lousy QoS. Why can't they get their act together?
You want to know why people hate Sprint? If you have lousy phones coupled with horrible phone coverage and top it off with the worst customer service in the industry, you have the makings of a horrible cell phone provider. Their 3G network is absolutely pathetic and the performance is spotty at best. From what I see from your post you are either totally lucky or you work for Sprint and are trying to appear impartial.
Now Sprint's CEO is saying that they will expect shortages on Palm phones? Well normally that would be a shrewd marketing move, but Palm lost its recipe for good smartphone design years ago - I even told their executive staff that which fell on deaf ears. For as far as I am concerned, Sprint can have Palm - they both deserve each other.
Now don't get me wrong, I hate AT&T as well (Pacific Bell was a horrible wireless provider and I was ready to throw my phone out the window when I heard that they acquired AT&T wireless, a VASTLY superior provider in every way), but at least you can unlock their phones and use them abroad which you can't say for Sprint's lousy ones.
@watchurbak21:
I couldn't agree with you more. I used to work at Sprint and I dumped my phone and bought an AT&T Wireless one (pre-Pac Bell merger) which was infinitely better even out there. It stuns me that they can actually stay in business with such lousy QoS. Why can't they get their act together?
@JustNotEverybody:
People that bought Verizon know exactly what they are paying for - high quality service at a higher price point. While you are right that Sprint does sell its excess bandwidth to other providers like Verizon, it's like saying that a Toyota Echo is as good as a Lexus because they come from the same parent company. But hey, if you want to spend less money for a clearly lower end (and in my opinion, inferior) product go for it. I'll spend my money on a phone and a provider that actually works everywhere I have tried.
I will not purchase until offered on Verizon.
Pre is not ready. They are fixing bugs until the last minute, so they don't have time to produce more.
Apple announced iPhone 1.0 six months before the release, loaned the prototypes to journalists during that period for reviews. Still, iPhone 1.0 had a lot of problems when released.
So far, the best hand-on reviews for Pre are from bloggers, and they had the phone for no more than a couple of hours.
I expect Pre to have a lot of bugs, and I wouldn't be surprised that if Palm only froze the design last week. The supply will be extremely limited. It is a release which is not decided by engineering readiness, but by marketing's desire to beat iPhone 3.0.
Source? It is irresponsible to make this kind of comment without a source. If you're just speculating, that's fine -- but if this is just your opinion then clearly state so.
There are no rules in love or war or marketing.
Bonnie,
When are you getting one to review? I want to hear your feedback on the hot device!
You still have to sign up for Sprint, so it's more likely that existing Sprint customers are going to buy this, than anyone else. Given how many subscribers left Sprint over the years, I'm just dumbfounded that people would flock to Sprint for a phone.
Seeing as how Palm hasn't been brave enough to allow anyone to review the Pre before launch, I fully expect the phone to be a buggy, unpleasant experience out of the box. Anyone who buys one of these before they can tell if it's any good or not, deserves to be ripped off. The term "early adopter" should be replaced with "Pre-mature buyer". I don't pre-order video games for the same reason. That's a lot of money and a long commitment for most people to spend on an untested piece of tech.
Will Sprint be giving you and other media Editors the Pre before the release date to review?
- by sevort May 20, 2009 1:05 PM PDT
- Sprint sucks, Pre or not. I don't see anybody switching to Sprint just to get Pre. Oh, and the name Pre sucks too.
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
-
- by seven7dust May 21, 2009 2:57 AM PDT
- yup I've been thinking the same wats with the name it's lame as hell !
- Like this
-
- by Meechyy May 21, 2009 11:56 AM PDT
- The name Pre, yea it may sound silly. But the whole saying that Sprint sucks is just an opinion. I don't have any complaints with Sprint. I pay 70 bucks a month and I get fast internet, unlimted text and night and weekend start at 7pm. Name another carrier that can beat that? Not ATT charges 40 bucks just for internet alone, text is 20, o and lets not forget minutes, Thanks another 60, 70 or more bucks. Consider that when you say sprint sucks. You suck
- Like this
-
- by sharmajunior May 22, 2009 9:16 AM PDT
- Exactly my point as well. Sprint sucks! Why would anyone want to go to a crappy network to get a decent phone.
- Like this
-
Showing 1 of 3 pages (76 Comments)I say decent phone because I haven't seen nor tested the Pre in person. In my opinion Palm made a bad choice. perhaps they could have launched it on a different network. Now if it is locked in to the carrier like AT&T and Apple...then Palm is screwed.