At least that is the consensus today:

Boy Genius: “We’ve just confirmed this with one of our ninjas: the rumor of Verizon Wireless passing on adding the Palm Pre to its line-up is totally and 100% bogus”
ecommercetimes: Despite reports that Verizon and Palm are bickering over a contract that would give the carrier rights to offer the Pre smartphone, Verizon maintains that the Pre will appear on its shelves in January, as planned.

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There is a new deal from Amazon, selling the Palm Pre for $99 – Palm Pre Phone (Sprint).
It is on Sprint,tough, so will wait a little bit longer…

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ZDnet reports that analysts today are shaking their heads at a report by TheStreet.com that basically said Verizon had decided against a launch of the Palm Pre next year. One analyst, Deutsche Bank’s Jonathon Goldberg, went so far as to call it “off-base.”

Simply, Palm yesterday reiterated its full year guidance, a gesture that Wall Street has interpreted as meaning a Verizon launch will still happen. TheStreet.com’s report cited “people close to the discussions.” The report also noted that Verizon may order a small number of Pres but not offer any marketing support for them.

Read the full story at ZDnet reports

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• Mystery Palms show up in Sprint’s inventory (mobilecrunch.com)

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Palm Inc., maker of the Pre smart phone, reiterated its plan to work with additional wireless carriers in the second half of fiscal 2010.

The announcement came after TheStreet.com reported that Verizon Wireless scrapped plans to sell the Pre, sending Palm shares down 4.7 percent yesterday. Derick Mains, a spokesman for Palm, declined to say if the statement was in response to the report, saying Palm doesn’t comment on rumor or speculation.

Palm, which currently offers the Pre exclusively through Sprint Nextel Corp., said last week that it would distribute its devices through other carriers in the second half, without saying which ones. Verizon, the biggest U.S. wireless carrier, had said in May that it planned to offer the Pre after Sprint’s exclusive contract ends.

TheStreet.com, citing unidentified people close to the talks, said yesterday that Verizon abandoned a plan to offer the Pre in January because the phone hasn’t become a blockbuster seller. Jim Gerace, a spokesman for Verizon, declined to comment.

[source: Bloomberg]

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The Street reports that the Pre, Palm‘s premier touch-screen smartphone, which has been an exclusive offering this year at Sprint, had been scheduled to arrive at Verizon in January. But people close to the discussions say Verizon has decided not to support the Pre.
The move would be a dramatic setback for the up-from-the-ashes Palm story. The company desperately needs to secure more telco partners to sell its flagship phone. In addition to Sprint, Palm has named only Bell Mobility in Canada and Telefonica’s O2 units in the U.K. and Germany as its exclusive partners

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Verizon

Smart Phone Review Blog has a review of the Palm Pre. Here is the highlight from the review:
The revolutionary Palm Pre will make your life simpler by always being one step ahead. The Palm Pre will pull each of your online calendars into a single, easy-to-view screen, so you’ll always be on top of your appointments, and it will automatically link all your contacts from different sources, letting you easily find what you need when you need it. Whether you are sending emails or text messages, browsing the web, listening to music, or simply making a phone call, the Palm Pre makes everything easier than ever.

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It could be a rough holiday season for shareholders of Palm as they wait to see if new smartphones can compete with the likes of Apple’s iPhone, Motorola’s new Cliq and the Blackberry.

What had so far been a few golden months for Palm was somewhat tarnished recently, when its revenue forecast for the current quarter missed Wall Street expectations by far – even as results for the last three months – its first fiscal quarter – beat many forecasts.

Analysts have said they believe demand for Palm’s new star handset, the Pre, is dying down after a highly anticipated launch in June. Palm, which cut the price of the Pre by $50 (Dh183.65) recently, continues to keep its sales figures under wraps.

“The anticipated slowdown in Pre sales appears to be occurring, one quarter later than many had anticipated,” said CL King analyst Lawrence Harris.

Any lost momentum by Palm comes at a critical time, just ahead of the holiday shopping season, when the Pre and Pixi – Palm’s next device based on its webOS platform – take on popular handsets from Apple, Research in Motion, and Motorola.

Analysts warned that Palm’s uphill fight may further stall any shot at profitability, particularly after the Pre price cut.

“Although the company claims to have purchase orders with several carriers, we see unit risk [in the latter half of its financial year], particularly as other carriers have more Smartphone suppliers,” said BMO Capital analyst Tim Long. “Sprint said … [the price cut] came from Palm, which we view as a sign that maintaining average selling prices and gross margins may also be difficult.”

Sprint Nextel Corp is the exclusive US provider for Pre, but Verizon Wireless, a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group, has said it will start selling the phone early next year.

Read full story here.

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Sign the petition to ask Verizon Wireless to bring the Pre.

PalmPre · Verizon

Wired has an interesting story about why you can’t get a good phone with Verizon. Here is some quotes:
Verizon’s extremely conservative approach to new handsets, the company’s long and rigorous testing procedures and its emphasis on the network rather than the phone has created a portfolio that’s a complete buzz kill, say experts.

“Verizon doesn’t have too many options,” says Michael Mace, a former executive with Palm and Apple who runs a strategy and marketing consulting firm called Rubicon Consulting. “They can’t get the iPhone right now and they can’t take Nokia devices and start promoting them. All they can do all they can do is push the BlackBerry as hard as they can and hope for a new Motorola phone.” (Nokia largely makes GSM phones, which won’t work on Verizon’s CDMA network, though the Finnish phone manufacturer has created a select few devices to run on the Verizon network.)

Not surprisingly, Verizon spokesperson Brenda Raney says the carrier would rather focus on its network than on the gadgets that use it.

“Keep in mind that for Verizon Wireless, it isn’t so much about the device as it is about the delivery,” she says. “We have the nation’s largest 3G network so when we offer devices on our network, customers can be assured that they will deliver as promised.”

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