Palm Pre Struggling Says Analysts

• JNK wireless consultant iGR published a report yesterday, in which the firm’s analysts gathered reponses from fifty Sprint stores regarding demand of the Pre. (more than 50 were contacted, but some refused to participate). Keep in mind, Palm has been trying to tell everyone that they can barely keep the phone on the shelf. The report shows different.

None of the stores contacted had sold out of Pre and the majority had ‘plenty’ available. This compares with 8 percent of the stores contacted last week saying they had sold out of the Pre (down from 28 percent in Week 2 and 38 percent in Week 1). iGR’s channel checks clearly show that Sprint is meeting the current demand for the device with the inventories available in the stores. Most stores are reporting a dropoff in the number of Pres being sold. 40% of stores said they had fewer than 10 sales this week. 33% of stores reported sales of 10-20 units, with 16% reporting 20-30. Keep in mind, these numbers are by the week. There are more than 10 people in line right now @ The Apple Store inside The Grove, Hollywood right now.

• The only good news that came out of this report was for Sprint. Most Pres are being sold to new Sprint customers, which means people are switching carriers to try the phone.

Tagged as: Palm, poor sales, Pre, struggling