Verizon scraps Palm Pre plans
Poor sales at Sprint as well as interest in handsets from Research in Motion and Motorola reportedly contributed to Verizon's decision to ditch the Palm Pre
Verizon has reportedly ditched plans to offer the Palm Pre early next year. Poor sales at Sprint -- the Pre's exclusive U.S. carrier -- as well as interest in handsets from Research in Motion and Motorola contributed to the decision, according to The Street, which cites "people close to the discussions."
Yes, it will; no, it won't
The Street's report refutes claims made earlier this year by Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam, who said the carrier would offer the Pre shortly after Palm's exclusivity arrangement with Sprint ended. A few weeks later, the Wall Street Journal reported the Pre would come to Verizon in January 2010.
[ See the Palm Pre versus iPhone side by side in InfoWorld's comparative slideshow | Also compare the BlackBerry Bold and iPhone 3G in our "BlackBerry vs. iPhone, side by side" slideshow. | And discover iPhone apps for business and IT pros the easy way: Use InfoWorld's business iPhone apps finder. ]
Despite previous interest in the Pre, Verizon is reportedly concerned that Palm Pre sales have not exceeded 1 million handsets sold since the device's launch almost four months ago. With the Pre failing to deliver blockbuster sales numbers, Verizon is apparently hesitant to invest time and money into rolling out the Pre.
America's largest carrier is said to have greater interest in new offerings from BlackBerry maker Research in Motion, and Motorola's development of Android-based handsets. Verizon is also gearing up to launch HTC's Imagio and may offer the HTC Predator -- another Android device -- this fall.
It's all about the apps
Another stumbling block for the Pre is Verizon's interest in selling third-party smartphone applications through its VCast Store instead of through device-specific outlets like Palm's App Catalog.
In July, Verizon held its own application developer conference to woo third-party developers into its system, and is working with other carriers around the world to unify mobile applications into one standard that will work across multiple handsets.
