A recent survey shows that while Research In Motion continues to lead as the smartphone of choice among consumers, that Apple’s iPhone is quickly catching up.
ChangeWave Research on Tuesday released the results of its week-long September survey of 4,255 consumers, which showed that RIM retains its lead in smartphone ownership with 40 percent market share. That’s actually a dip of 1 percentage point since the last survey in June, and the lowest share RIM has registered in two years.
Despite having more models of smartphones, RIM is facing serious competition from Apple, whose iPhone has 30 percent market share among those surveyed. That’s an increase of 5 percentage points since June, when the new iPhone 3GS was released.
Among the same group, Palm has maintained a 7 percent share since June. Though it didn’t see any growth even with the introduction of the Palm Pre and more recently the Pixi, the two new WebOS-based phones are helping the company to not lose share. Palm has seen its market share of smartphone ownership erode steadily from its peak of 36 percent in June 2006.

Read the full story at Cnet.

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Palm (PALM Quote) was slapped with a sell rating Tuesday on concerns that the new arrivals in the smartphone market will crowd out the Pre.

The heroic makeover of Palm is facing a significant challenge as telcos like Verizon (VZ Quote) and AT&T (T Quote) align behind Apple (AAPL Quote), Research In Motion (RIMM Quote) and phones built on the Google (GOOG Quote) Android operating system, shoving Palm into fourth place among suppliers, writes BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Long in a research note Tuesday.
The downgrade comes a day ahead of Verizon’s introduction of the Motorola (MOT Quote) Droid phone running on Google’s Android system. It also follows a report earlier this month by TheStreet that Verizon was snubbing Palm next year and putting its full support behind Android and BlackBerry phones. Verizon has said it plans to offer the Palm Pre and Pixi phone early next year.

Google also has plans as reported here, to bring its own an Android phone to the market as early as this year.

The heavy competition and the fading popularity of the Pre phone along with the potential cannibalization of Pre by the Pixi next month does not bode well for Palm, Long notes.

“We believe that the company will miss its guidance for the second half of fiscal 2010,” writes Long.

Palm shares fell 3% to $13.81 in late morning trading Tuesday.

Source: http://www.thestreet.com/story/10617414/1/palm-stung-by-sell-rating.html?cm_ven=GOOGLEN

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PC Mag has a report explaining why the chances are limited that will see the iPhone on Verizon, luckily will get the Palm Pre on Verizon soon.

This is Ivan Seidenberg, chief executive of Verizon Communications said today about the iPhone coming to Verizon: “This is a decision that is exclusively in Apple’s court,” he said during Verizon’s third-quarter earnings call. “We obviously would be interested at any point in the future they thought it would make sense for them to have us as a partner. And so we will leave it with them on that score.”

“What they have done has been successful, so we have to sit back and give them credit for that,” he said. “Our view is to broaden the base of choice for customers, and hopefully along the way, Apple, as well as others, will decide to jump on the bandwagon.”

Mr. Killian noted that Verizon will begin carrying the Palm Pre early next year and launches its own app store later this year.

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GigaOm asks a good questions: Will Verizon go to so much effort for the Palm Pre as it does for the Droid?

The Pre’s momentum has dissipated since its June launch on Sprint’s network, and Palm last month had to raise roughly $313 million for working capital and general corporate purposes with a public offering of 20 million common shares of its stock. But while the company could get a boost from the Pixi — an affordable webOS handset aimed at younger users and scheduled to hit the market in time for the holidays — Verizon could play the role of Palm’s redeemer. The nation’s largest carrier operates arguably the best network around, and Verizon has consistently demonstrated its acumen at marketing smartphones.

But it’s that latest factor — marketing — that’s a concern. Verizon is already promoting the Droid with an impressive ad blitz, and it’s likely to back the upcoming Storm 2 with some serious marketing muscle as well. It’s possible the Pre could get lost in Verizon’s suddenly impressive smartphone portfolio. If Verizon chooses to invest heavily to promote the Pre, the handset could be a huge hit. If not, Palm’s days may be numbered.

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Wow! with the news of the coming Verizon Droid it’s going to be a hard decision:
Verizon Palm Pre or Verizon Droid.

What do you think?

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After months of back-and-forth rumors, speculation , and unofficial commentary from no less than the Verizon Wireless CEO himself, webOS hopefuls on Verizon can finally rest easy.

Verizon’s official Twitter account has confirmed that the Palm Pre will arrive “early next year”. The Boy Genius Report also provides confirmation of this story.

No additional details are available as far as launch timeframe, pricing or device specifics.

Source: Palm Infocenter

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• Palm Pre Coming to Verizon Early Next Year, Says Tweet (mashable.com)

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If they needed validation of their decision to forgo an iPhone or a BlackBerry, users of the Palm Pre have it: Their smartphone made the Popular Mechanics list of “The 10 Most Brilliant Products of 2009.”

The magazine’s staff members, who were cool way before it was cool to be a geek, know their gadgets and tools, and their list gives their favorites that became — or are expected to become — available this year.

They praise the Pre for setting “a new standard by putting all of the best available technologies together. … Sometimes more is more.” The Pre runs $150 with a two-year contract from its exclusive service provider, Sprint Nextel.

Source: Kansas City

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Verizon will soon release the latest BlackBerry smartphone, the BlackBerry Storm 2, and the Telegraph poses the question, given the option of the new BlackBerry Storm 2, iPhone and Palm Pre, which should you choose?

Check their BlackBerry Storm 2 review video:

PalmPre · Verizon

Listed on a drop down menu box of handset options in O2′s website, right under the Pre, is the Pre II. The carrier is expected to launch the Pre starting October 16th, but the mention of a sequel unit has everyone interested, excited and confused. And while the Pre II is listed as a handset option, using the search bar on the site comes back with nothing. While one could explain it away as merely a different title for the GSM version of the phone, why is the original Pre also listed in the same menu? It is also possible that the Pre II refers to the upcoming Palm Pixi, which is the manufacturer’s second WebOS device. The best answer is that this is probably a listing error.

[Source: Phone Arena]

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• Palm Pre Headed To Spain (thenextweb.com)

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Well we still don’t have the Pre in Verizon, but some of the Pre owners are testing it by putting it into a beer mug. The phone did not work after the experiment; a similar test of throwing the iPhone into a swimming pool worked better.

[source: TechCrunch]

iPhone · PalmPre