Last week, Matt Knopp returned his Palm Pre after trying it out for nearly a month. Knopp, a software developer, was unhappy with the Google Maps feature on the Pre and the phone’s inability to sync with his work e-mail.
“It wasn’t just one big thing about the Pre that I didn’t like,” says Knopp. “There were a lot of short-term deal breakers.”
Knopp’s not the only one. More than a month after its much-hyped June 7 debut, the Pre’s return rate could be as high as 40 percent, claims Kevin Dede, an analyst at Jessup and Lamont.
Palm launched the much-anticipated Pre smartphone on June 7 exclusively on Sprint’s wireless network. The Pre received largely favorable reviews but many users and reviewers have complained about the device’s poor battery life. In addition, some report problems with the hardware, such as easily cracked screens.
For Knopp, the phone just couldn’t hold up to his constant comparisons with the iPhone 3GS. “The iPhone 3GS is the same price and has better features,” he says.
However, Dede’s claim of a 40 percent return rate may be highly exaggerated, say four analysts polled by Wired.com.
“I would suspect that the Pre return rates would be in line or a little lower than the average smartphone,” says Michael Gartenberg, vice president of strategy for research firm Interpret. “Most consumers who bought the Pre were early adopters who were waiting for the phone and knew what they are buying into at this point.” Palm did not respond to a request for comment.
For his analysis, Dede used data from a poll on the Pre Central website forum asking readers how many times they have exchanged their Pres. He also did some “impromptu questioning” of managers at some Sprint, Best Buy and Radio Shack stores.
The results that stem from that kind of unscientific data source could be rather flawed, says Carlo Longino, an independent mobile analyst. “The methodology here is a little suspect,” he says. “It’s hard to put too much stock into data that comes from running an anonymous poll in an online message board.”
Charles Golvin, a mobile analyst at Forrester agrees. “It strikes me as highly speculative and not based on a reliable data source,” he says. “I personally have not heard anything to indicate such a high return rate.”
That’s not to say the Pre isn’t without its problems. The Pre’s weak battery life has been a sore point among users. Wired.com’s Pre review showed that the charge on the phone lasted less than 12 hours because of the device’s multi-tasking capabilities and fast processor. Twitter and Palm’s own message boards sport complaints from users who say they have seen the battery on their Pre die with just few hours of use.
Palm has been trying to fix some of the bugs that have led to power drain through over-the-air software updates for the Pre.
Meanwhile, some users have also complained about dead pixels on their screen and cracked screens. Still the poor battery life or display related issues are unlikely to account for high return rates, says Gartenberg.
“These are a few anecdotal problems similar to what we saw happen with the iPhone,” says Gartenberg. “One iPhone user saw some discoloration with their device and that turned into a story about many iPhones heating and melting. Palm is seeing stories go that way now with the Pre.”
For now, there is no way to accurately forecast the the Pre return rates. Analysts and consumers will have a clear picture of the Pre’s performance when Palm opens its books as part of its quarterly earnings report in about two months.
As for Knopp? Despite his disappointment, he hasn’t given up on the Pre forever. “I liked the phone and the way it sat in my hand,” says Knopp. “Maybe in a year when the Pre gets better I would be willing to give it a shot again.”
So what do you think, Pre users? If you bought a Pre, take our poll and let us know if you are keeping your Pre or giving up on it.
See Also:
- Palm Pre App Catalog Makes a Slow Start
- 6 Reasons Why the Palm Pre Is Special
- Palm Unveils Its Long-Awaited Smartphone, the Pre
- Sync Your Palm Pre with iTunes. Again
Photo: Palm Pre (Patrick Moorhead/Flickr)
More than a month after the launch of the Palm Pre, Palm has opened up its webOS Software Developers Kit (SDK) called Mojo to all developers. The move could spark off a flurry of new applications on the Pre app store that seemed to be losing steam after the device’s release.
If you’re one of those unfortunate Pre users that 
Best all-around experience since this is a media-manager in itself
Doesn’t support playlists, and lack of progress bar when syncing
2) Just dragging music over into the media folder
