The Palm Pre could be launched early in the UK, with rumours circulating that the decision has been made because of disappointingly sluggish sales in the United States – a prediction that comes after Palm’s financial results were seen for the first time last week.
Although the company reported results that were far greater than expected for the second quarter of this year, they have predicted that sales and revenue would drop by over 25% by the end of this quarter.
The prediction of a decrease in the number of US sales goes largely against the increase in manufacturing orders, however. The company says that it shipped a total of 823,000 smartphone handsets throughout the last quarter, only 375,000 of which were Palm Pre mobile phones, according to American analyst David Eller or TownHall Research.
Eller is quoted as having said in a research note; “Our estimation of sell through at Sprint is no more than 375,000 units, which would leave one month of inventory in the channel,” before adding; “We cannot understand where these Pre handsets went.”
Matt Thornton of American analyst Avian has been quoted telling Mobile Today; “The North American market does not warrant that level of production. Given the bigger number, it suggests plans for an earlier launch than November into Europe or into other markets such as Latin America, where Telefonica has a presence.”
Telefonica’s O2 already has an exclusive arrangement to launch the Palm Pre mobile phone in the United Kingdom prior to Christmas, and although we had previously expected to see it surface in November it seems highly likely that it could be here as early as October.
Tags: Palm-Pre