Bell gears up to meet Palm Pre demand as Canadian launch approaches

As the Palm Pre's Canadian launch day draws near Bell Mobility assures us it is stocked and ready to meet the "unprecedented demand" for the device, which may well change Palm's fortunes in the smart phone market.
8/20/2009 5:00:00 AM By: Brian Jackson

Bell Mobility is well stocked and ready to launch the Palm Pre smartphone Aug. 27, with pre-orders already being taken.

The exclusive Canadian carrier for the Pre learned an important lesson from Sprint's launch of the device south of the border on June 6, says Claire Gillies, director of marketing at Bell Mobility. The phone was sold out there by the early afternoon of the launch day.

But for the Canadian launch, Gillies said, Bell Mobility has procured a large number of units from Palm. "We feel very comfortable with the number of devices we'll have.”

In May, Bell announced its plans to offer the Pre. A Web site allowing users to register for information about the device has received tremendous traffic.

There's greater interest here than for any other phone Bell has ever launched, Gillies says.

"We've seen unprecedented demand on our Web site," she says. "The list grows every day as we approach launch."

Next week's launch will see the Pre sold in Bell's retail outlets, as well as Best Buy, Futureshop, Walmart, Telephone Booth and Wireless Wave. For $50 down now, you can reserve the phone for launch day.

As smartphones are becoming increasingly popular among Canadian consumers and business users alike, Palm Pre is hitting the market at the right time, says Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst, mobility at research firm IDC Canada in Toronto.

But it must meet initial demand to have to gain the kind of market penetration that Palm needs, he said.

Just bringing the right amount of supply online is key, he says. “Palm needs to be able to satisfy that initial demand to gain market share.”

Up until now, Research in Motion and Apple led the Canadian smart phone market, with their respective products (Blackberrys and iphones) leagues ahead of Palm in terms of unit sales and customer satisfaction.

However, the very success of those manufacturers may create a market climate favourable to Palm Pre, Restivo suggests.

“Palm is coming to market with the Pre when people are adopting smartphones en masse,” Restivo says. “It's a rising tide that lifts all ships.”

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