Wall Street Reaction-- PALM Up 9.21%; Views Vary

Though Palm's stock (PALM) hit a 52-week high of $13.78 (closing at $13.64 up 9.21%) on Wednesday, after the Pre reviews hit, there still seems to be an undercurrent of uneasiness as folks await what Apple has in store next week.

David Pogue's thoughts on the Pre got a lot of traction. He made an appearance on the Power Lunch at CNBC.com, which also got picked up at MSNBC.  Verizon definitely got a boost from that clip.

Over at Silicon Alley Insider (Business Insider), Dan Frommer posted a story ("Palm Pre Cool But Not As Good As Apple's iPhone") with some interesting takes:

"The good news is that Palm has, thanks to its corral of ex-Apple staffers, designed one of the best mobile phones -- hardware and software -- on the market. (We're very excited to try it out.) It can fix some of its problems, such as the bugs, app store, etc., with software updates and developer relations. And given how large (and complicated) the mobile market is, there's plenty of room for more than one platform. But it's still not getting the "better than iPhone" stamp from anyone. And we certainly wouldn't line up to buy one this weekend until we've seen what Apple announces next Monday...

...All this means the Palm Pre might eventually be considered commercially successful -- especially by Palm's low bar -- and the feedback could help Palm build better future devices based on the webOS platform. It might be enough to keep Palm's juices flowing. But it's probably not going to blow the doors off."

There's an interesting "Chart of the Day" worth checking out too.

Sticking to the Business Insider website, Henry Blodget weighed in ("The Palm Pre Will Bomb"), stating, "The Pre may be a cool device, but it won't restore Palm to its former glory."  He also offered three reasons for this belief:

• The Pre isn't even as good as the current iPhone, let alone the new one. So say the gadget gods.
• The smartphone game is rapidly becoming as much of platform game as a device game, and the Pre is nowhere as a platform.
• The smartphone game has become a waltz of elephants, and Palm is just a Jack Russell terrier.

Ouch! He does mention that "one thing Pre does do for Palm is turn it into a more attractive acquisition candidate."

If you read the whole post, you'll see links to counterpoints by Dan Frommer in a post titled, "3 Reasons The Palm Pre Might Not Bomb."

At the Barron's Tech Trader Daily, Eric Savitz's post ("Palm Pre: Gushing Early Reviews; Where Are The Apps?") contained a roundup of what others were saying about the Pre.

"The early reviews are in for the Palm (PALM) Pre, and the news for the bulls is mostly good...

In general, the phone is seen as a worthy rival for the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, with additional features like a removable battery a a physical keyboard. Both the Web OS software and the industrial design of the Pre are getting raves. There certainly are some nits, though. Some reviewers were disappointed with the battery life; almost all noted the relatively primitive state of Palm’s answer to the Apple App Store, which features very few applications so far - not surprising since the company has yet to make an SDK widely available."

Earlier in the day, Reuters had an interesting piece discussing whether Palm is a Buy or Sell.

And from the looks of it, Motley Fool hasn't weighed in yet. Their site had a re-post of an AP story.

TheStreet.com's Gary Krakow posted a very favorable video review of the Pre, mentioning universal search, how it syncs with iTunes and how easy it is to download apps (5 sec).  He said webOS seems to be good and the browser is terrific.  Like everyone else, he noted that the battery life is not what he expected (barely a day's work).  The Palm Pre is good and it is going to get better.

That's one day in the books.  Things may change over time after folks have a chance to mull it over.  For sure, there's "a wait and see" feeling going into the weekend and Apple's WWDC next week.