Pre Launch Supply: Sellout Imminent? 66
Woody tips us off to this Bloomberg article, wherein they polled a half dozen analysts and asked them what they figured the inventory of the Pre at launch would look like. The median answer: 375,000. We'd already heard from an insider that stock might be so thin that Sprint Employees have been told they will need to wait a couple months in order to get one for themselves.
Bloomberg speculates that we could be looking at a sellout situation, suggesting that Palm is intentionally keeping the stockpile low to "enhance its allure." Maybe they're right, but we're thinking Palm is more likely to want to sell as many of these as humanly possible as quickly as possible.
Here's the question, then: how many Palm Pre phones do you think Sprint and Palm will sell in, say, the first month?
Thanks, woody!
66 Comments
I think they will sell ALL the phones in the first month! LOL
I wouldn't be so sure.. I, and a lot of other people on these forums, are switching FROM the iPhone to the Pre.
I love the iPhone, but it's just too limited for me.. even with the changes that will be made in 3.0
I'm not seeing your logic, but you are definitely entitled to your opinion. :)
What's the big friggen deal.
They said it'll be out by the end of June, we're not even there yet.
If they run out before I get one, I'll just have to wait until they re-stock.
Palm is having some issues right now, what sense would it make for them to make 3 million phones if the only end up selling 500,000?
I don't think they'd sell that few, but if they did they would be out of business (or picked up by someone else) at that point.
If the numbers are true, they made a conservative, but reasonable, amount of phones and will see what the demand is to gauge what volume to manufacture.
Personally I'm not an impatient child, if they sell out before I can get it on release day I'll just wait a little longer until they re-stock.
If that was the biggest stressor in my life, I'd be looking to make a change. :)
I find it funny that most of these types of posts are by Anonymous posters. :)
The thing is, I agree with you.
I think more people will be waiting for the new iPhone, just like people think that iPods are the only digital media players.
It's all a matter of marketing, it's the same reason that Windows prevailed as the majority leader on computers OSs.
Back "in the day" the Atari ST and Amiga computers were leaps and bounds ahead of Windows, but Microsoft has some of the best marketers in the world and prevailed.
Betamax was much better picture / sound quality than VHS, 8 track was a far superior sound than cassette.
Fortunately we have more choices than back in those days, so there's no one device that's going to rule the world.
Most people will wait for the iPhone because they have narrow vision and are not informed. After the Pre comes out and the truly viral marketing starts, that will change for some of those people.
I think this is exactly why Palm is not over producing the phone on initial release.
I'm not going to put down the iPhone, I have one and LOVE it, but there are some things that are really lacking for me. I'm ready to move to Sprint and the Palm Pre, which looks to have everything I love about the iPhone, the things it's lacking and more.
I also think people are REALLY underestimating WebOS. This OS is going to be HUGE for developers, allowing them to just jump right in and start coding.
good thing my sprint store is right next to a hospital :-D