Palm Pre Hits Stores: Do Shoppers Care?
The Palm Pre may have debuted to mostly positive reviews, but shoppers don't seem to be quite as excited about the device. The smartphone went on sale this weekend, and while most stores report brisk sales and small lines of customers, the overall excitement didn't match the long lines and raucous crowds who waited to get their hands on Apple's iPhone at launch.
The Pre went on sale on Saturday, June 6, and is available in Sprint, Best Buy, and Radio Shack stores, many of which quickly sold out of the smartphone. The Sprint store in Boston, for example, sold out of the Pre early on Saturday. Boston.com reported that shoppers were in line as early as 5:30 am, and that the store's stock of 55 Pre smartphones was sold out by 11 am. Store reps told Boston.com that they would not get a new shipment of Pres until Monday.
A PC World reporter, meanwhile, had a hard time even finding a store selling the device. He visited a Best Buy and a Radio Shack store only to find that neither store had any Pres in stock at all. He eventually was able to find the Pre at a local Sprint store, which had a few phones still in stock late in the day.
The relatively small lines and calm scenes that surrounded the Pre's launch are actually what Sprint representatives said, publicly at least, that the company was hoping for. Mark Elliott, a Sprint spokesman, told the New York Times that the company did not want long lines and big crowd. Instead, they were hoping for smaller crowds that would allow shoppers time with Sprint reps, who could then teach new users how to use the Pre.
Image © Palm
Comments
Finding one in Chicago was a nightmare, and they were carried by just about every Best Buy, Radio Shack and Sprint store. Many places sold out within minutes.
Did you get one, Mike? I’d love to hear what you think of it.
smartphone, it’s awesome. Took me a while to warm up to it, but now i am so glad i have one. And once they put out some updates, which they have to do pretty soon, it’s going to be f’g awesome. I came off a blackberry and in the first hour i was totally missing my blackberry, 24 hours late, i am happy as can be.
anyone know when/how you will be able to get an unlocked pre – usable on any network or anywhere else in the world?
Bill, phones from non-GSM carriers (in the US, Sprint and Verizon) can’t be unlocked. The phones are hardwired to work with only one carrier. But maybe Palm will issue an unlockable GSM version for AT&T or T-Mobile.