Palm Pixi hurt by bugs but hits VZ soon

Palm's smartphone sales this year will be hurt by bugs in the Pixi but should be shored up by a Verizon model, a report in Taiwan's Commercial Times newspaper said on Tuesday. Once due to ship 800,000 units of the multi-touch phone in the nearly finished quarter, parts supplier Compal is now only shipping 600,000 as Verizon has supposedly said the devices haven't passed its software tests. The finished models will only reach the American carrier early next year.

FCC testing has largely confirmed that Verizon is receiving an upgraded version of the Pixi that adds Wi-Fi to the budget smartphone. The carrier should also be receiving a new version of the Pre, possibly spotted in a Wi-Fi Certified listing, though this may have relatively few changes.

The reduced number if true could be a blow to Palm, which has struggled to turn around as it resurrects its phone design. It nonetheless suggests a long anticipated expansion in the US beyond Sprint and stronger numbers overall for the company, as the 600,000 example doesn't include Pre shipments either to Sprint or to other carriers in the world, such as Bell, O2 and Telcel.

By Electronista Staff