Palm Eos En Route to Palm in October?
An anonymous source has provided PreCentral.net with information that appears detailed enough to be worth reporting. The gist: shipments of the Palm Eos to Palm are indeed set to begin in October, which increases the chances for a 2010 release.
Earlier this week an analyst had speculated that the Eos would be delayed until 2010, only to be rebutted by a DigiTimes report that Palm would receive 400,000 units of the Eos in October. Based on our source, it appears there's a little grain of truth in both reports.
Apparently, Palm is set to receive 80,000 units or so in October, an order size that is reduced by two or threefold from the original order. Palm is set to receive similarly-sized shipments in the months after.
The Eos has yet to appear in two more traditional pre-release sources - the FCC or carrier testing leaks, so guessing at a release date is still difficult. The device is still expected to hit AT&T first (although we've heard from people claiming to have seen the Sprint version).
In addition, we are told that to-date, Palm has received shipments of around 800,000 Palm Pre phones -- though of course how many of those have made their way to consumers is an open question. The good news is that Palm has been steadily ramping up production month over month, and so the coming months should see unit shipments to Palm increase.
As always, take silly-season, pre-release rumors with a grain of salt (or more). The Eos, if you don't recall, is rumored to be a slightly lower-end device running webOS, with 4 gigs of internal storage and a slightly smaller screen than the Pre.
Rumor Du Jour: Eos Ships to Palm in October
Monday: analyst with no verifiable sources and a sketchy track record claims that the Eos could be 'delayed' to 2010.
Tuesday: DigiTimes, an online site with no clear sources and a sketchy track record claims that the Eos is going to be shipped to Palm HQ in October. [Thanks, Phil!]
Wednesday: We shrug our shoulders and dutifully report that silly season for the Palm Eos is officially in full swing.
The DigiTimes story claims that Compal (also cited that sketchy story from March) will start "volume shipments" of the Eos to Palm in October, eventually expecting to hit 400,000 to 500,00 units shipped in the fourth quarter.
This early Eos is to be the GSM/HSPA version for AT&T, while the Sprint version is to show up in 2010, as expected by our previously-mentioned analyst.
If true, it doesn't necessarily mean that the Eos will ship to customers as early as October, as we haven't yet seen the traditional cell phone cycle of leaks, spottings, regulatory filings, and carrier testing (we love and hate that last step, as it is the source of leaks and also of delays).
Also, if true, 400,000 within a quarter is an aggressive but necessary target for the Eos. The device, if you'll recall, is meant to be a sort of low-end Pre, a Centro replacement. It is expected to sport a 320x400 screen and 4 gigs of storage instead of the Pre's 8. It may also have a less powerful processor. Low specs means lower pricing means lower margins for Palm -- who will need to make up that difference on volume.