Sprint's CFO Comments on the Palm Pre, Carrier's Future

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When the Palm Pre was first announced way back when there was a pretty good amount of hype surrounding it; many thought it would be Palm’s killer come back device thus securing their foothold in the mobile phone marketplace. Well, after experiencing some turbulence on its way to market mixed with some poor support for it’s App Store competitor, the Palm Pre, much to Palm and Sprint’s dismay, never really got the spotlight it deserved.

Launching on Sprint wasn’t exactly helpful in terms of Palm Pre market penetration and is arguably one of the main reasons the device has been called a failure. Sprint, however, is completely aware that the device didn’t take off (how can they not be) and their Chief Financial Officer, Robert Burst, has come forth to tell investors that the “Pre didn’t’ work out as well as we hoped”. You can say that again, Mr. Burst.

But fret not, Sprint investors, as Burst is looking towards a bright future for the carrier with many solid stepping stones leading the way. With HP’s recent acquisation of Palm, not only do they expect the Pre (and webOS in general) to get an extra boost, but they have some plans of their own. If you’ve been paying attention you’ll know that the HTC EVO 4G’s release date is quickly approaching which means Sprint will be the first carrier in the United States to tout a 4G enabled device.

Luckily, that’s not all that they are relying on as Burst also points towards an increasing number of subscribers switching to prepaid plans, something Sprint has been a premiere offerer of for some time now. Couple that with some decreasing losses and Sprint may be seeing itself shooting for the stars sooner rather than later.

I don’t know about you guys, but before I would even consider switching to Sprint they’re going to have to do some major coverage overall because around my area dropped calls on Sprint are anything but uncommon.