AllThingsD » Paul Coster

And for You, Mr. McNamee? Ah, Yes–The Boiled Crow Sandwich.

John Paczkowski — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:01:40 +0000

“You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.”

– Palm investor Roger McNamee

Palm (PALM) seems to have satiated pent-up early demand for its new Pre smartphone, constrained supplies be damned. In a pair of investor notes issued today, analysts at Pali Research and JP Morgan say that sales of the Pre have tapered off to a point where supply and demand are roughly in parity.

“We have concluded our 3rd round of channel checks for the Pre,” writes JP Morgan analyst Paul Coster, who notes that demand for the handset is hovering at about 40,000 per week. “The gap between supply and demand has closed at Sprint and BestBuy stores, waitlists are eliminated or down, and most stores now have Pre devices in stock.”

Pali Research analyst Walter Piecyk also surveyed the Pre landscape and reached a similar conclusion, though he sees the slowing of sales as a bit more pronounced. “We believe that Palm Pre sales have slowed over the past week for Sprint to under 40,000 from 50,000-60,000 last week,” he writes. “…We suspect that if sales continue to moderate, Sprint would increase its marketing budget for the product. The marketing budget behind the product has been somewhat limited to date compared to the marketing push that Apple does.”

Indeed. And let’s not forget that Apple (AAPL) has a new handset on the market that’s been selling quite well. Makes you wonder if this ebb in demand for the Pre is somehow related.

Guess it’s looking like Palm investor Roger McNamee’s hyperbolic predictions about iPhone-to-Pre conversion aren’t going to quite pan out.

Microsoft Announces Windows F(E)U Edition

John Paczkowski — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:20:59 +0000

[ See post to watch video ]

Palm Pre: 100,000 Sold So Far

John Paczkowski — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:30:16 +0000

Palm has shipped 100,000 Pres since the device debuted on June 6. This, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster, who estimates that more than 50,000 phones were sold in the first two days it was available and says the company may have sold another 50,000 in the days that followed. “Channel checks conducted Thursday, the 11th, suggest shipments to Sprint stores have averaged about 10-15 units every 2 days, implying about 36K-55K units will have shipped by Saturday (1,200 stores, three shipments of 10-15 units),” Coster said in a research note issued this morning. RadioShack inventory has been replenished once (back to launch-date levels or higher), whereas Best Buy has not received additional units (based on very limited sample). Our channel checks included 28 Sprint stores across the nation, 3 Radio Shack stores, and 3 Best Buys….Though we came away with a generally favorable impression of the sell-in momentum that Palm is currently experiencing, we also detected a lot of uncertainty. Sprint stores are being dripfed devices without much certainty or uniformity regarding timing and quantity. A Best Buy associate expressed hope that devices would be delivered by Friday but sounded doubtful.”

Interesting. Certainly puts Palm’s claim that “Sprint tells us they have never seen higher demand for a smartphone” in perspective.

Coster’s suggestion for folks intent on buying a Pre but frustrated by the meager supply at Sprint Stores and Best Buy: Try Radio Shack, which “seems to have been neglected by eager early adopters.”

FINALLY: Palm Pre Shipping June 6 for $199.99

John Paczkowski — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:27:13 +0000

At long last, the Palm Pre has a price and a release date. Ending months of rumor and speculation, Palm and Sprint (S) said this morning that the device will arrive at market nationwide June 6 (I know, I know, a day before the day I said it wouldn’t arrive). Price: $199.99 with a two-year service agreement and after a cheesy $100 mail-in rebate.

Seems that in the end, Palm (PALM) decided it would be folly not to match the $199 price of Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone, though according to CEO Ed Colligan, the Pre is far superior to it. Asked at the Consumer Electronics Show if Palm would try to take market share by undercutting the iPhone on price, Colligan told MediaMemo’s Peter Kafka, “Why would we do that when we have a significantly better product?”

Perhaps, because you must? As J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Coster noted this morning, “The $199 price point was absolutely necessary, in our view, to go head to head with RIM and Apple.”

Interestingly, this means the Pre will indeed ship just days before Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the event at which the company is expected to announce its next-generation iPhone. Which suggests that perhaps, as I theorized yesterday, Palm is hoping the Pre will benefit from the iPhone halo. “By debuting so close to the presumed announcement of the iPhone, Palm would be ensuring that its new device is fresh in the minds of anyone mulling the purchase of Apple’s latest offering–or writing about it,” I wrote. “It would be parasitically riding on the back on the Apple media juggernaut. Question is, can it hang on without getting trampled?”