Palm's Centro Leads Shares (PALM, S, VZ)

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) has not been without its problems.  But there seems to be a saving grace here with strong unit sales.  The Palm Centro has now reached its 2-millionth unit sold.  It seems that the market place’s desire to get smartphones is adding to the love, particularly for the $99.00 price tag for a strapped consumer in a tough economy.

The Centro is also now in 25 countries.  At first this was exclusive to Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S), but over the last two or three weeks it has become available for sale via Verizon (NYSE: VZ) as well.

On a personal note, I just switched from my bulky original Palmsmartphone last week to the new Centro rather than the larger Palmsmartphones.  I haven’t yet decided if it is going to be perfect orentirely appropriate for some of my own needs, and I haven’t decided ifI will keep this for the long haul or not. There are limitations and while the size reduction is great it will pose as a barrier to many users.

But what is more than obvious is that the Centro smartphone offers anincredible entry price for a cash strapped public in a softeningeconomy.  Shares are up almost 10% at $6.30 after about 45 minutes oftrading and we’ve seen 1.3 million shares trade hands.

JON C. OGG
JULY 29, 2008