Palm Centro: One Million Served
While smart devices have been available for quite a few years now, mainstream acceptance is really just starting to ramp up as devices get sexier and prices drop. The RAZR was a step in this direction several years back; for many it was their first phone capable of doing more than making a call and playing snake.
It looks like the newest example of mass consumer appeal for smartphones could be the Palm Centro. Palm’s $99 offering has been “flying off the shelves” according to a recent press release which focused on the Centro crossing the 1 million unit mark in sales (it came out the day before April fools day so we’re pretty sure they were serious).
The Centro appears to be very popular among a younger and perhaps more price sensitive crowd. IDC analyst Ryan Reith touched on this in Palm’s release:
"Smartphones are certainly not new to business professionals; however, now more than ever we are seeing consumers migrate toward these types of devices as form factors have become more appealing and price points are now competing with traditional mobile phones. Palm's Centro plays right into the hands of the consumer looking for a more robust experience on their mobile phone. We definitely expect to see this trend continue worldwide."
With the combination of a low price point for consumers and the power of a huge developer community including high-end enterprise applications, this device could be just what Palm needs to re-join the elite in the smartphone space.