We don't want to incite panic in big box parking lots from coast to coast or anything (or do we?), but from the looks of things, Best Buy's
Pre stock for launch day is meager at best -- and distribution is a little weird. A poster over on
everythingpre's forums threw up a bunch of alleged inventory screen shots, suggesting that Florida and Texas stores are particularly well-off -- many stores are expected to get 18, 20 or more -- while Illinois stores appear to be getting hosed (a trip to the Hancock location downtown, for example, will result in success for just two people). The way we see it, this could be fake -- but it might just have to do with how close each store is to Best Buy's distro centers or a balancing act with proximity to Sprint locations in the area. Worst case scenario, we figure, you can just riot.
Update: A tipster tells us these "On Order" numbers are actually the number of Pres each store's manager has requested, which doesn't necessarily correlate to the number they'll actually receive. Of course, that still doesn't explain why downtown Chicago's Best Buy would request just two -- there have to be some other constraints involved that we're not privy to -- but it's an interesting tidbit nonetheless.
posted Jun 2nd 2009 11:59AM
Those numbers better be thousands...
Why? No need to keep thousands when no one wants one.
The numbers are there, and they're not even hundreds.
Oh wait this is that joke isn't it? I fell for it again -_-
Nope. That's the actual number they have on order. It's a legitimate screenshot of RSS, which is BB's internal inventory system.
Couldn't that be cases? It sounds funky that they would send 3 phones to any one store, but 3 cases of 10 phones, or 3 palettes of phones makes more sense.
Thousands? Are you insane? We're talking Palm here. Full of bravado and little cash. The day after the release I'll bet half the members of the Engadget Palm Lovers Club will be swearing they got their sweaty little hands on one. Cities of millions of inhabitants will be fighting over five or six available Pres. The Pre will be in short supply for a couple of months. This Pre rollout will go down in infamy as the world's lowest number smartphone release in history. This is how Palm intends to kill the iPhone with the Pre. The number of Pre units available is totally absurd. Ed Colligan better stay in hiding from the news media.
Anyone that reports on Engadget of securing a Pre, please let us know what city you were in so we can catch you in your blatant lie.
In case you forget what a real release is about, keep your eye on the iPhone 3 release with lines stretching around the block and each store in Manhattan having about 10,000 units available. In one day Apple will be able to sell more iPhones from one store than the Pre can sell in the entire U.S.
Palm is pathetic after puking up all that hype for weeks. Anyone that didn't live in a fantasy world could see this one coming a mile away.
I can picture the headlines now.
Holy shyte! Extra, extra! Pre sells out across the U.S.
Total of 1,000 satisfied customers.
This is a disgrace to the whole smartphone sector.
Thank goodness I live in San Antonio...
Its clear some of you comment just to flame, Bestbuy is one entity selling the Pre on June 6th. As someone mentioned, this inventory may not be final. Bestbuy could have many more Palm Pre's by launch date. Sprint will be selling the vast majority of the Pre's, last I checked, the iphone wasn't carried at Bestbuy or Radioshack when either of the iphones first launched.
@Buis ..Those numbers better be thousands...
I doubt it. The pre is just being over hyped. Just not a lot of interest in it on the Sprint network. I don't even know any one who uses Sprint.
Keeping the supply low for the early adopters allows you to keep the price high - which is a win, plus it might instil some Pre camp-out mania which grabs so much free publicity - which is another win. It makes complete sense unless you are a consumer in which case your attitude will be "I want it now!" - as it should be.
No, those are not thousands or hundreds. Have you been to a best buy lately?
So Harlem gets none?
HIP sucks. No one goes to that mall for anything.
Harlem is a street in Chicago. Harlem and Irving Park is a poor part of town. I can see why they wouldn't stock much there.
actually the hip is getting better. i rember going there and seeing a footlocker next to champs next an adidas store. now there's a claires and a damn hot topic
I thought the Harlem\Irving Park store wasn't that bad.
Technically, the "downtown store: in the Hancock would be considered to be the Mag Mile. I would why only 2??? And 8 at the store on 87th?? Why not more at the south Loop (12th St.)
HIP? I went there once. Never again. Felt I was at a bazaar. Don't even get me started on trying to get into the parking garage in the rain at night.
three days from now we will all be talking about new iphone rumors
Any kid with Paint Shop Pro can turn these things out.
Just call ahead, like an adult, and get the info directly from the manager, and not from supposed inventory sheets or from posters on messageboards that knows a guy that knows a guy that used to work for Best Buy, that knows all the answers
yeah really...I'm not getting mine from bb anyway so good luck to you all at the south loop location
rofl Harlem, you aint got nuthin
Why aren't they advertising this thing? I for one am very excited about getting up early and running to a Sprint store where I am "supposedly" on a waiting list to get a Pre...but no one but tech heads knows about this thing...Advertising Fail...I think so
palm have no money to advertise
and their supply lines as you can see are quite limited.
Why advertise when you don't have enough to sell to the people who already know about it?
They said they'll start advertising later. A commercial is debuting on Facebook on Wednesday.
Just about every website dedicated to technology has a Palm Pre AD with that count down calendar. Even sites dedicated to Apple. There are AD's running on youtube as well. Sprint ran AD's in major News papers, as well as on the sites of those News organizations. Sprint usually does not start running TV AD's until after a product is launched. To put it in perspective, the Samsung Instinct hardly had any website AD's running prior to launch, come launch day there was a huge turnout. I believe the turnout for the Pre is going to be massive.
Why advertise when you have Engadget?
So they still show an $850 w/o contract price? Way to go Best Buy...
Yeah...they said that's to deter people from buying it out-right until there is more stock to go around....
publicity stunt
Yeah, that's quite the publicity stunt: "Look how few of the Palm Pre will be available at Best Buy stores on launch day! Yay!" Way to build hype. Your theory makes so much sense.
[SARCASM, as if you couldn't tell]
actually it does build hype...cuz now ppl will rush to the store even more trying to get one. if palm was smart they'd stock up the stores with a LOT more than just 2 or 5 pres...we'll see how it all plays out on release day.
Actually, it builds resentment and frustration when people camp out overnight at Best buy, waiting for the Pre to launch, only to find that they never had a chance because their location only had two in stock.
Yeah, like it built resentment during the 360, PS3 and Wii launches?
There was definite resentment towards eBayers, but that was about it.
But I'll agree it's just foolish to not have enough inventory, when the new iPhone is just around the corner.
FYI: The Palm Pre won't show in inventory as Available On Hand until the night before launch date, we aren't supposed to officially "receive" them in inventory until then, so the screenshots are legit, but not accurate. For instance, I know that the store I work at has 10 in stock right now, but our system shows 0, with 5 on order and 0 in transit.
Thanks for clearing that up for us.
Thanks for the info; makes me feel a bit better! Kinda strange way of doing things, though, isn't it?
My store has 8 Palm Pres in stock. I'm going to try and buy mine online at Sprint.com considering we Bestbuy employees can't buy them yet.
No wonder my Palm stock started sliding. Freaking Engadget. :)
If plam doesn't release enough, the new Iphone will drop and wipe out all the converts to the Pre/sprint.
I'm not an iphone fan boy, but you would think when you have customers begging for a product you should make sure you have the stock.
After all if something else similar to the pre came out a week later, would you still want a pre, keeping in mind this involves converting to sprint.
And thats like having sex with a hooker without a condom
This is exactly what I think as well. Personally, I really want a palm pre. If I go to best buy, or a sprint store on June 6th, and they are "out of stock", there is about a 95% chance I will be buying the new iphone instead.
Sprint, Palm: sell me a phone, or apple gets my money.
@ Ryan Trevisol
BB's inventory is done a per-item basis. It's not done per box, case or whatever else. IE: Say they got 4 boxes of Guitar Hero, which have two games per box. RSS (the inventory system pictured) would read 8, and not 4.
Wow, that's interesting.
Well if this is true, that's really sad for Best Buy.
I guess Sprint is planning on having the majority of stock in their stores.
Palm I'm sure is making sure they will sell out everywhere. They need to guarantee launch hype. If they don't have lines and waits they can't brag about how much better they are than the iPhone.
Of course they could. What a fanboyish thing to say. Some people actually buy products based on informed decisions and what they need, as opposed to what best fits the current hipster poser template.
or to guarantee launch hype they could, you know, actually outsell the iPhone at launch... but that goal may be too lofty.
PALMAGEDDON
That's a beautiful term and very fitting. So is Pre-destined to failure.
My portfolio could seriously use a nice, successful launch here, palm. Don't screw this up!!!!
Seriously, I don't think there are that many people using Sprint that the Pre will be selling out anywhere anytime soon. I've seen a ton of information on the Pre, there is nothing particularly innovating that other cell phone companies haven't already done.
wow... just wow.... do you actually follow tech news?
haha oh snap the Northridge best buy only is going to have 2, i better get in line fast
FACEPALM
Hahaha! Face-Palm! Get it? Face-Palm? You know, because it's the Pa---oh, forget it.
will definitely not break zero to million in 72 hours record
Set by " the phone".
Dont feed hungry trolls ppl
Could the Palm Pre be the Susan Boyle of smartphones?
Exepctations are huge for this thing...
The Pre is going to be a huge massive fail, overhyped device. It's going to be so underdeveloped compared when the iPhone when first came out. No one will be lining up to get this thing, but if they do, they will be severely disappointed that the lineup is short and there was a Pre for everyone.
It would be difficult for it to me more underdeveloped than the first gen iPhone. That was the most overhyped brick of the decade.
That they had to drop $200 in a very short amount of time.
I was pretty pissed even though I did get a $100 voucher.
Chicago of all places should be receiving MORE than most places, not less. AT&T is a notoriously bad provider here, thus most would be iPhone buyers have been waiting for something like this, and most iPhone owners here hate their service (whether or not they openly admit it).
AT&T's Chicago network is a farce.
Living outside the loop, I was pulling max EDGE downloads of 52kbps. I moved back to Oak Park and I am lucky if I get two bars in my studio.
Nice that my local BB (Melrose Park) is in the screenshot there but I no longer shop at BB and can't say I've had any interest in buying a Pre. Even with AT&T's weak service in Chicago.
I don't know anyone looking to buy the Pre.
PREPOCALYPSE!!!
Seriously, scarcity creates demand. Remember the lines of people at AT&T stores for the crapola 2G iPhone? Same thing here. I'm waiting for the hype to clear, read some objective reviews, and then make a purchase decision.
I luckily got on the reservation list for a store in Upstate NY, and I have it confirmed from them that they are only getting 10 phones. The store is an actual Sprint store (although it's not a corporate location).
Any info on other areas?
Yup, and like the majority of engadget readers (see the poll a while back) I'll be waiting to see what the nxt iPhone has in store, and then deciding. Att already has a disadvantage given its price being higher for a monthly plan for me and my wife, so if it doesnt blow the pre away i'll be moving once my contract expires in July.
YAY comment system fail # 32165498456
Was meant to be @ EV-D'OH!
If you scroll down the first page of the thread, you can see he posted more screen shots (and on other subsequent pages) for other stores. The Bay Area, CA one pretty much proves what my BestBuy said, so I'm going to say that these are pretty legit. You can see my post about it here: http://preinsiders.com/home/2009/05/31/so-i-talked-to-my-local-bestbuy-today/
i dont know about this. its very conflicting with the list of best buys getting a demo unit
http://www.everythingpre.com/articles/2009/5/27/list-of-best-buy-stores-scheduled-to-receive-demo-units/
the store in michigan thats getting a demo unit is getting none (not even listed) and the store that isnt near me has 4...
These numbers don't mean much. Some Best Buy Mobile Manager could have decided to simply whip out the Telxon and order as many as possible, but that doesn't mean they'll actually get that many. Wait till you see "In Transit" numbers go out, that'll say how many are actually coming.
Of course they could. What a fanboyish thing to say. Some people actually buy products based on informed decisions and what they need, as opposed to what best fits the current hipster poser template.
That's a little strange that 323 only has 4. That is one of Best Buy's highest volume stores.
You know, Engadget is starting to remind me of 24 hr new channels. Both outlets reach a point where they start running out of things to report. at that pont either they start rpeating stories with only slight variations from the pervious version(s) to get out the latest information or else they start reporting banal or picayune items.
Over the last few days I've just felt like Engadget as jumped the shark.
Simon
At the end of the day, Engadget's about obsessive, granular coverage of the gadgets people care most about (Engadget Mobile even moreso in the phone world). +1 for using both "banal" and "picayune" in a comment, though.
@ Chris,
Don't forget "pervious"
:)
WTF NYC? THREE units in the midtown flagship store? No store in Manhattan with more than 6 on order? I'm assuming this is due to the heavy Sprint store presence. I supposedly have one put away for me for the premiere event on Friday, so I hope that comes through.
the midtown flagship store will be a midtown sprint store. Remember their exclusive on this phone? remember where most people go to get a newly releasing phone? yah....
@Phenoum
Yeah thanks. I already said that personally, I'm getting mine from the Sprint store. What was this post about? Best Buy? So I was talking about Best Buy's flagship store. Maybe. Yeah.
NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! i need to go to da one on belmont and western. i know way to mant ppl around dat area dat have it out for me.
sorry belmont and kimbal
go to an F*in sprint of radioshack store
I would already have an iPhone but I can't part with my 49.99 SERO plan.
I know, seriously.
What did you pay for it. I paid $7.79 per share a few months back. Let's hope the phone doesn't suck :D
without a successful launch day they wont make it. they need to sell millions and millions of these to get out of debt and recover to when palm was a successful company. once a few people find out how small the keyboard is and how hard it will be to type on the word will spread and this thing wont sell more than a few millions phones which wont be enough to get palm afloat. Mark my words
The only review ripping on the keyboard was BGR's review of an outdated pre-release unit. Everyone else has been plagiarizing that one article.
And you imply Palm must either sell enough to return to their former glory, or go out of business entirely. Where did you come up with this false dichotomy? Corporate success is far more nuanced than that.
@johnny
Sorta like typing on the iphone? Considering that Palm is already looking ahead to its next product, the Eos, all the Pre has to do is sell enough to give it a stronger foothold on the market. Biggest thing that will happen if the Pre doesn't live up to the hype is that everyone will have a skewed view of the Eos. I highly doubt the Pre will be the make or break product for Palm but how it does will play a key role in Palm's future.
I did this for the PS3 launch when I worked at best buy and the numbers were fairly accurate.
Oh boy, saturday is gonna be a very interesting day. I can't wait to see this chaotic launch unfolds.
Well, i guess if i can't get one at the bucktown store i'll just head down to the south loop. we need more chicago specific engadget leaks, this rocks. Assuming it isn't a fake.
i actually spoke to the guy at BB in bucktown and he told me they are expecting to get 5. Coincidence?
thank goodness i'm waiting for the new iphone or nokia n97
I love how all the people who want to be Steve's gay lover troll the Pre posts.
If the whole "On order" thing based off of how many Pre's the store manager requested, I would've requested 100+ Pre's. The numbers are based off of how many phones the stores have sold throughout other sales events. Inventory levels are okay for release day although not as many as I had anticipated or hoped for but then there are some stores who have 2 or less at launch.
Yet another reason not to shop @ WorstBuy...Guess I'm not important enough to sell the pre to....