Palm Pre News: Shortages, Waiting List, & How to Get a Pre

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On the first day of selling the Palm Pre, shortages occurred at Sprint stores within hours and people were put on the waiting lists, Bloomberg reports. The excitement may be due the great reviews of  the Palm Pre and the
VIP launch of the Palm Pre with Jerry Seinfeld as well as the constant news about the Palm Pre.

According to the Sprint recording when you call Sprint, the Palm Pre is not available via online or telesales yet, only available in Sprint stores, it refers customers to go to a Sprint store. They suggest you go to Sprint.com to locate the nearest store.

Depending on your Sprint store, you may or may not be able to get a Palm Pre.  One way to speed up your buying process however, is to apply for a new account over the phone. They will run a credit check with your social security number first.  Then when you go into the store, you just give them the application number and you don't have to wait in the store while they run a credit check. You can also call the store to see if they have any in stock, on Sunday, Sprint stores open at 11:00 am.

UPDATE June 9th: A Sprint spokesman suggested in an interview that one of the best ways to get Palm Pre is to put your name on a waiting list at a Sprint store. Then they know where to ship units when they come in.

Best Buy stores had as few as thirty to fifty  Palm Pre smartphones in the San Francisco area.  At the
Sprint Store on Mission Street in San Francisco, the sixty Palm Pres sold
out within a two hours according to Daniel Chan. They started a waiting
list, and he noted that about half of the customers already had an
iPhone. Those on the waiting list should get a Palm Pre within a
few days.

"For us, the opportunity is not to take customers away from RIM or
Apple," John Rubinstein, Executive Chairman, Palm told Reuters at a Sprint store in San
Francisco,"but rather to entice users of lower-level cell phones to
upgrade to a more powerful smartphone."

Paul Suarez at PC World went on Palm Pre hunt on Saturday in Bellingham Washington. There were no Pres in sight at Radio Shack. There were a few in stock at the Sprint store which had twenty people in line when the store opened. The Pre was also available at a kiosk in a mall.

CNET reports that there weren't many over night lines, people waiting outside stores before the stores opened in New York.   Crowds were bigger at Best Buy stores, where customers did not have to wait for rebates. The Best Buy stores received fewer units and had sold out quickly. Stores in New York had brisk sales and it is expected that total sales figures were good.

The Sprint Store in Boston sold out of Palm Pre smartphones early on Saturday. Magazine editor, Ericka Boston went to the downtown Silver Spring, Maryland Sprint store around 1:00 pm on Saturday and was sold the last Palm Pre in the store.

"I had been resisting smartphones because I didn't want to become one of those people who checks email compulsively, but my old phone was on its last legs. The iPhone has a beautiful display, but I have issues with its touchscreen keyboard. I really like that the Palm Pre has keypad and a touchscreen--that sold me," said Boston, "and it looks good too." 

Sprint spokeswoman Jennifer Walsh Keifer told Reuters that Sprint had sold out of Pre phones at a number of different locations around the country and that the company was doing its best to restock stores.

RapidRepair has torn apart a Palm Pre and estimate that it cost $170 to make very similar to the iSuppli estimate in April which was $170.02. We've got a call out Palm to see if they offer any advice on how to get a Palm Pre, right now we suggest call the store first.

If you have a Palm Pre, you can buy chargers such as the Touchstone at the Palm Store online, as well as Palm Pre accessories.
Palm offers free shipping on all orders over $49 at the Palm Store.

For those of you lucky enough to get a Palm Pre here’s a neat activation and set up video:





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