
Sprint Cuts Palm Pre to $99
SUNNYVALE, Calif. (
) -- How weak are
Palm
(PALM)
Pre sales? Well, Sprint's cutting the price in half to $99 is probably not a good sign.
The promising touchscreen smartphone from Palm debuted in June to a great deal of anticipation and some spotty sellouts. But with a weak partner in No. 3 telco and with the stiff competition from
Apple's
(AAPL) - Get Report
iPhone, the Pre has faded in popularity.
Sprint's monthlong $100 rebate offer requires that new customers sign on for two-year contracts, and the payback will show up as credits in the first three monthly bills.
Palm is expected to make the Pre available to other carriers, including
Verizon
(VZ) - Get Report
and possibly
AT&T
(T) - Get Report
, next year. The steep price cut by Sprint suggests that it needs to win as many new customers as it can before the exclusive sales contract expires.
Sprint shares fell 2% in mid-afternoon trading Tuesday on news of the price cut.
Written by Scott Moritz in New York
.









