Palm’s Pixi: Soon to be a Great Happy-Meal Prize

Here’s one way for Palm (PALM) to get rid of the 197 days of inventory it reportedly hasn’t been able to move off the shelves: a free-with-2-year-contract deal. That’s what Sprint’s (S) done with the Pixi, the Palm Pre’s underpowered sibling. The offer is currently good at the carrier’s online store only, but I suspect it will soon extend to its brick-and-mortar outlets as well. Given Palm’s aforementioned inventory problem and recent news that retail partners like Radio Shack are phasing out its poorly selling smartphones, it was only a matter time before we saw the zero-dollars-on-contract-scheme come into play here.