Palm's $99 Centro Gets High-Five From Buyers

SAN FRANCISCO -- Smartphone maker Palm(PALM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), which has been struggling to find a hit, may finally have something to cheer about.

The company said Monday it has sold 1 million Palm Centro smartphones since its launch in September.

The success of the inexpensive phone is good news for Palm, which may have finally found a sweet spot in the smartphone market with a phone that offers an attractive mix of features and price for consumers.

The Centro smartphone, which is priced at $99, is available in 10 countries, including Hong Kong, Singapore, India, the UK, Germany, Spain, Ireland, France and Italy.

Shares of Palm were up 10 cents, or 2%, to $5 in recent trading.

Palm has been facing an uphill battle against its rivals such as BlackBerry maker Research In Motion(RIMM - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), Motorola(MOT - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) and recent entrant Apple(AAPL - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr).

The company introduced the Centro in an exclusive deal with Sprint(S - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) before making it available on AT&T(T - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) in February.

Smartphones accounted for 11% of all mobile phone sales in 2007 in the U.S., and is expected to increase to 35 percent by 2011, estimates Palm based on data from IDC.

Compared with other Palm smartphones, Centro is reaching almost double the number of women, more than double the number of customers under age 35, and nearly three times as many customers with a household income of less than $75,000, Palm said in a statement.

The data suggests Palm may be on the right track in coming up with a smartphone sales strategy that reaches beyond business to a broad group of consumers.