Analysts: Pre Sales Slowing, Could it End Sprint's Exclusive Early?

If JNK wireless consultant iGR (quoted in TechChrunch) is to be believed, Palm Pre sales are not as high as other analysts seem to think. As expected, the sales rate has dropped somewhat since the launch date, but iGR is estimating that Pre sales have dropped to and stabilized around 22,000 - 25,000 units a week, from a launch week high of 140,000, adding up to a to-date total of around 320,000 sales. Sprint’s inventory of Pre phones has reached a supply-demand stabilization point (which bodes well for Bell customers in Canada).

Speaking of analysts, Barron’s is quoting TownHall Research analyst David Eller, who has echoed Kevin Dede’s statement that Pre returns are running at higher than expected levels. Eller claims that “the Palm Pre’s keyboard creates friction when sliding that causes the battery to recycle. This gives the appearance of poor battery life as the recurring powering up cycle drain the battery faster than it would through normal use.” Honestly, that makes no sense to us (friction causing battery problems?), though we think he might be discussing the battery fit-related slider crashes that afflicted some early purchasers.

Eller’s numbers point to 250,000 active Pre phones as of mid-July, and that less than 50,000 have been sold this month. The problem there shifts to Sprint, as the carrier’s exclusivity agreement with Palm apparently includes a clause requiring that Sprint sell 55,000 units a week to maintain their exclusive. Feeling the pressure, Eller also claims that Sprint has considered lowering the price of the $99 Simply Everything unlimited voice/text/data plan to $79 (presumably for new customers and for a limited time) in order to pump up the Pre’s sales rate. Of course, advertising for the Pre has been a touch on the anemic side until fairly recently, so things could pick up again.

In short - it does appear that sales of the Pre just may be slowing down a bit.  Then again, as always, estimates from analysts are to be taken with a healthy dose of salt.