Jun 6, 2009 2:25 pm US/Eastern
Palm Pre Released, Selling Fast
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
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Palm Pre (file image)
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
No doubt bolstered by positive reviews, Sprint Nextel Corp. CEO Dan Hesse said Saturday's release of the
Palm Pre smart phone represents a "coming out party" for Sprint as it seeks to reverse subscriber losses.
Read: Palm Pre Comments On Twitter
HIGH DEMAND
The celebration might be cut short, though, if the wireless carrier can't keep up with the high demand it expects for the device.
Sprint, which will carry the Pre exclusively at least through the end of the year, lost 1.25 million of its valuable contracted subscribers during the first three months of the year -- even worse than the 1.1 million that fled to other wireless carriers in the fourth quarter.
WHAT YOU GET
Hesse said the Pre gives Sprint an opportunity to show off its competitive voice and data networks and service plans -- things that could help the company retain subscribers and lure new ones.
He said Sprint has "vastly" improved its customer service and network performance.
The Pre has a touch-screen and slide-out keyboard and will cost $200 with a two-year service plan and rebate.
View: Video Tour of Palm Pre
It also sports Palm's new operating system, webOS.
Numerous early reviews have been positive.
Read: CNET Review
FLYING OFF SHELVES
But while the phone may be easy to use, it could be hard to find.
At an industry conference last month, Hesse said Sprint would not be heavily advertising the Pre early on because of expected shortages.
Hesse said then that the Overland Park, Kan.-based carrier "won't be able to keep up with demand for the device in the early period of time."
In an interview Friday, the president of Sprint's business markets group, Paget Alves, said he believes Sprint will have enough phones to satisfy demand at launch, but that the product will become scarce.
There was a long line outside the Sprint store on Boylston Street in Boston Saturday morning.
All 55 phones in the store were sold out by 11 a.m., according to
the Boston Globe.
"This is like the Wii for us," Alves said, referring to Nintendo Co.'s popular gaming console, which faced shortages following its 2006 release.
Alves would not disclose how many Pres will be available on Saturday, but he did say fewer will be available at Radio Shack and Best Buy stores than at official Sprint stores.
He also said that more than half a million people registered online either with Palm or Sprint to get information about the Pre's availability and, for existing Sprint customers, to get on a waiting list to buy it when it comes out.
Besides potentially helping Sprint reverse its declines, industry analysts also consider the Pre to be Palm's best hope for fighting back against Research In Motion's BlackBerry and Apple Inc.'s iPhone handsets.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Palm needs a boost, as sales of its phones fell 42 percent year-over-year to 482,000 in its December-February quarter.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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