O2 And Carphone Cancel Palm Pre Orders

The Carphone Warehouse and O2 say that they have stopped ordering new units of Palm’s Pre handset, after both claimed they have enough stock to meet demands.

HP Snaps Up Palm

Palm has been struggling for a number of years now, and is currently in the process of being acquired by HP, the world’s second-largest IT systems provider. The acquisition, which has drawn a mixed response, came after Palm announced in early April that it had hired Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners to help find a company interested in acquiring it. A number of suitors were in the running, but in the end HP offered $1.2 billion (£790m) in cash.

Palm has previously admitted that its Palm Pre smartphone, despite gaining good reviews on release, has not sold well. Indeed, more than half the phones Palm made this year are still in warehouses.

Slow Sales?

So the news from Mobile Today that O2 and Carphone Warehouse have stopped ordering new supplies of Palm Pre handsets may be a cause for concern.

Speaking to eWEEK Europe UK, an O2 spokesperson confirmed they had stopped ordering the handset, but said the reason was “simply because we have enough of the handsets already in stock.” The spokesperson was unable to reveal current stock levels of the Pre.

Carphone Warehouse, which apparently buys the Palm Pre directly from O2, also said that it had stopped buying the device.

It is not clear at this time if O2 and Carphone are struggling to shift the Palm Pre. O2 said that they never give out individual handset sales figures, although they confirmed that sales were “in line with our expectations”. Carphone Warehouse did not respond at the time of writing.

Earlier this month, a key retail partner for Palm in the United States, RadioShack, said it was letting supplies of the Palm Pre run out, and had no plans for future orders.

UK Release Of Palm Pixi

Meanwhile, the Palm Pixi is to arrive soon, on the O2 network at least, after the May edition of O2’s Shop magazine listed the Pixi as coming soon.

There is no word yet on when this device will arrive in the UK, although it has already been launched in Germany.