Sprint discontinues the Palm Pre

By on Nov 15, 2010 at 7:47 PM
mobile November 15, 2010

When the Palm Pre disappeared from Sprint’s website last week, many speculated that the world’s first webOS phone was probably gone for good. Now, a leaked document obtained by enthusiast blog PreCentral.net puts another nail in the smartphone’s coffin. According to the document and accompanying report, Sprint’s Palm Pre has been designated as EOL (End of Life) by the carrier, meaning it will no longer be sold. Remaining inventory, which is said to be in the hundreds, will be depleted by physical Sprint stores and telesales, and then Sprint’s Pre is off to the great gig in the sky. Though no announcement has been made, this could mean that Sprint will soon offer the Palm Pre 2 as a replacement to the original. Of course it could also mean Sprint is shifting focus away from Palm devices for the time being, and onto the Android platform where devices like the EVO 4G have done quite well for the carrier. Sprint did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

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16 Comments

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  • CER

    Happened a year and half too late. Oh well….

    • Anonymous

      Seriously! Was getting long in the tooth by March of 2010 already! So much for the device that signaled the “rebirth” of Palm.

      Note to MBAs, this is what happens when you cheap out on hardware. Software you can always improve, but once hardware is in the channels, you can never fix it. Saving a few pennies on it now will cost you millions later.

  • Anonymous

    Palm is so dumb. If they had named the new Palm Pre by a different name Sprint and other carriers could have sold both phones side by side. But instead carriers need to get rid of old stock so they’re not stuck with it.

    Palm keeps making dumb moves. They really need a good marketing team.

  • Anonymous

    Palm should have sold the phones unlocked quadband gsm online at a decent price, lets say $400. Thats all they needed to do, and make more devices

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/PACMan3000/ Paul A. Chapel

    The Palm Pre will join the other phones, like the Storm and Instinct, in the iPhone Killer graveyard.

    • m@$t3r Te

      the Iphone is a killer….im still holding on to my blackberry Tour!!!!

    • Anonymous

      For sure. Also, for reference, the Pre Plus is missing on Verizon’s website.

  • That Feller.

    Thank god, great OS, on the worst hardware ever devised. Most people that have Palm Pres for any length of time have had several replacements.

  • Ces

    Whoopi feels duped!!!!

  • M@$t3r Te

    sprint doesnt have room to discontinue any phones…they are so behind on there stock!!!! On the flip side to that, the Palm 2 is coming out; WHY WOULD YOU DISCONTINUE THE FIRST ONE THEN INTRODUCE THE SAME PHONE BUT 2ND GENERATION?? really sprint??!!

  • Pandabarr

    A palm rep came into our store once making about the pre and pixi+ sales.”so whats been the biggest hurdle for palm to overcome, the new OS?” Our response “Android”

  • Anonymous

    Never was a big fan of the Pre’s Hardware…however, ill be more than happy to snatch one up if Sprint offers this as a Refurbished device.

  • drew dogg

    This phone would have been such a bigger success had palm launched it on Verizon in the first place.

  • Gag

    This phone just did not have the feature set to compete with other smartphones. The Pre and Pixi had a great OS, but Rubinstein and his team at Palm have severely screwed up the product line. First of all, there was no timely successor, nor was there a timely update to the software. You also had a JV manufacturer team up with a JV carrier. By the time the Pre/Pixi went to Verizon and AT&T, they were irrelevant, even though the hardware was slightly better. And when you look at the Pre 2, it’s BARELY an improvement over the first Pre. At this point, Palm should probably get out of the phone business. HP only bought them for their OS anyway and maybe it would be better for a tablet, instead of phones that keep wasting their potential.

  • Sandrocks9000

    wow it could not last forever it the webos was real great the hardware really sucks hope down the road hp will just lend out the os to companys like htc wich makes great hardware

  • Ceeaser28

    wow funny thing is though most people have no idea what HP not Palm is doing internally. For starters the Pre 2 was the device that was going to be released in july on sprint 4g, but of course the buyout stopped their pipeline. Right now HP is focusing on releasing the Pre 2 overseas to get them familar with Webos 2.0. The Pre 2 is Palm last product, and will be the last to carry the Palm brand name. The new devices (5 different form factors with a tablet) will be coming throughout 2011, and is being made by foxconn the same company that makes the iphone versions. There will be a slab, and pixi type version, and landscape slider, and a bigger portrait slider. The Pre 2 will most likely only come to Verizon in the states and not Sprint. FYI the reason the hardware was not up to most peoples code was because Palm didnt, and never had the money to do so. Now of course with the #1 computer company in the world they have the captial to make a push towards greatness, and enhance what they lacked (hardware). Hp also just budget an additional 2 billion dollars in research, prodcution, and manufactering for new Webos Smartphones. So yes HP bought Palm and Webos to make phones too for those who have no clue on why they bought them. All we can do is point and say I told you so next year when the first 4G phone is released with new hardware on Sprint, and the real Ipad competitor in the Palm Pad, and watch people who based Palm and Webos jump on the wagon.

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