The numbers are rolling in after the Palm Pre’s launch over the weekend and analysts are calling the launch a success. JP Morgan analyst Paul Coster wrote in a research note this morning that he estimated that “(s)ales in the first two days probably exceed 50,000,” also pointing out that the first generation iPhone sold 146, 000 units during its first two days of availability.
Palm’s sales numbers were hampered by an inventory shortage, however. Stores across the United States were spotty, with some retailers carrying north of 200 Pres while others only had 20 or 30. Why Palm to go with a soft launch isn’t really known, but I’m guessing it has something to do with its current cash crunch. Most Sprint representatives didn’t know exactly when the next shipments would arrive either, though I’m sure it’ll be sometime in the next few days.
It’ll really get interesting in a couple of hours when Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference begins, during which it’s almost a sure thing a new iPhone will be announced. Will it be good enough to kill off Palm’s momentum? It remains to be seen.
Palm’s App Catalog had some impressive numbers over the weekend as well, despite the selection of applications being low. The Official Palm Blog reports that over 150, 000 apps were downloaded on the first day the Pre was available. Not too shabby at all. Some of the location-based applications already available include uLocate’s popular Where app (currently 5th most popular overall), Citysearch, LikeMe, FlightView and movie ticket app Fandango. Palm has only released its Mojo SDK to select developers, but when it’s publicly available it appears the App Catalog could see some Apple-like success, should the Pre continue its popular trending.
