Analyst Predicts 1.5 Million Sales of Palm Pre - Winner with Developers

By Editor Wireless and Mobile News on January 14, 2009 10:45 AM

Analyst Jim Suva at Citigroup estimates that Palm will sell 1.5 million units 12 months after the Palm Pre launches sometime in the first half of 2009.

Developers love the Palm Pre, Larry Magid reported in the San Jose Mercury News Tom Conrad, the chief technical officer of Pandora, said his company was able to develop a Palm Pre application in three days compared with the "three-month process" it took to develop a similar application for the iPhone. Magid called the Palm Pre a winner and also noted that the best thing about the Palm Pre is that you don't have use a cable to sync up contacts and calendar information from the the web.

Some analysts ares saying it doesn't put a dent in iPhone's hold and criticize the Sprint Network. The big determining factor of the Palm Pre popularity is the price consumers will pay.

Jim Suva wrote the following:

We do not believe the Pre will be targeting the entry level market nor targeting a $99 price point; we expect an ASP of $350 - $450 with the consumer paying $199 - $249 after subsidies from Palm's launch partner Sprint and mail-in rebates from Palm. We note that there is a risk that Palm may have to respond to aggressive subsidies/pricing by other carriers and vendors, which would clearly have a negative impact on margins; however, we don't think Palm management is eager to repeat the Centro experience of profitless prosperity.

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