AT&T To Get Palm Pre In MayAT&T To Get Palm Pre In May

Palm's stock rose Thursday morning when Citi called for the AT&T to get the Pre in May. The Pre recently launched, along with its sister device the Pixi, on the Verizon network two weeks ago and results haven't been that great. Citi may be counting on AT&T to put more marketing effort into the WebOS platform than Verizon has.TheStreet.com is reporting that while the Pre has received critical acclaim, buyers just aren't materializing as much as Palm needs when you have competition from other platforms like Android and the iPhone.

The Pre launched on the Sprint network in the summer of 2009. Demand was strong initially, but through the end of the year. the device didn't take as expected. Many blamed it on the Sprint network. Sprint did plenty to advertise the device, but the network couldn't compete with the likes if the iPhone on AT&T or the Droid on Verizon.

The odd thing is, even after, launching on Verizon, sales haven't been a raging success. AT&T launches a freshened up iPhone with some new features and faster data speeds and there are lines for days and millions sell each month. Verizon launches the Pre and Pixi with updated hardware and it initially sells two devices per day in its stores. Honestly I'd forgotten the Pre was on the Verizon network because I haven't seen the first ad, billboard or bus stop sign marketing the device, yet I still see a lot of them for the Droid and HTC devices.

Of course, Palm's shares took a quick dive when the production halt was announced, ending the day flat when the market was up over 1%. Palm just cannot catch a break. I've not heard any exciting rumors about WebOS as the biggest mobile phone show begins next week. The Pre and WebOS are approaching their first anniversary. How long until Palm releases a major update to the platform to rekindle the interest people had in it when it first launched?