pre,  web os

Palm investors celebrating too soon?

Reuters has an interesting article posted this evening about Palm’s new Pre smartphone.

“Palm Inc stole the limelight at the Consumer Electronics Show by unveiling a new touch-screen phone and mobile operating system that doubled its share price overnight.

But investors may be celebrating too soon.

Analysts gave a thumbs-up to the new Palm Pre smartphone and webOS operating system, but said it was too early to conclude that the long-awaited new products can rescue Palm, which has lost both market share and cachet to Apple Inc’s iPhone and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry.

They said important questions remain unanswered, including price, how quickly Palm can bring the device to market, and how long the phone would be exclusive to subscribers of Sprint Nextel Corp, the weakest of the top three U.S. mobile services.

“Palm remains a ‘show-me’ story in our view, with its turnaround dependent upon execution and financial performance beyond webOS and Pre’s initial debut,” said Mike Abramsky, RBC analyst who reiterated his “sector perform.” “

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