[paulhelyerpre]

It's partly that but it's also placement within the store, the iphone table is generally front and centre with working devices while the broken pre table is stuffed in the corner. It's no surprise what catches the customer's eye.

I agree. Walking into the shop you get iPhone stands and displays everywhere and a tiny table with a poster for the Pre.

Hopefully when the Pre is available on other networks there won't be too many competitors for it. I have been excited about the Pre since it was demo'd at the CES (?) show and I saw it on YouTube. Went out and bought it cash on the UK launch day after 5 months of looking for a way to get the US one working here.

It would be a shame to let what is essentially a great bit of kit fall by the wayside due to bad decisions (Palm giving O2 exclusivity) and bad promotion (dull TV ads, lack of other O2 advertising and O2 still more interested in selling the iPhone).

Edit: On the plus side, I have had a quite a few people looking very interested in the Pre and asking what it is.

[leowyatt]

The O2 store here in St Helens has the phones in the centre of the store and when I've been walking past has been fairly busy. Still, I have no idea how many they sold

[BlueC]

I guess O2 may have less incentive to sell the Pre than the iPhone, or else they simply don't rate it? Or maybe their staff are all just apple *******? (crikey, why is f a n boys filtered on here? pathetic)

Their (O2's) lack of attention to it, and the bad ad campaign from Palm are a real shame though because most people who see my Pre really like it - it caused a big stir in the office when I first got it, so much so that the boss immediately went to finance to insist that he should have one too.

If they'd have got their advertising right then I have no doubt that it would have been massively more successful than it has been so far. As it is, it seems to be a niche device for geeks.

[Khalild]

Liverpool one - it's funny you mention selling one, I saw a claim by a 02 rep on a private forum that on launch day, he estimated they has sold an average of 1 device per store - a claim I saw echoed in other places.

Agreed, I've done better promotion by just showing it to people than O2 has done. Also the pre tv ad is horrible, you barely even see the phone in it, and you don't really see any features.

[andyhurley]

I was reasonably happy with the O2 store where I got mine on the 16th. I got there as they were opening the doors and by the time I left (about half an hour) there were half a dozen people queued up to get a Pre. Not a huge buzz but not bad considering the total lack of pre-launch advertising.

As for the build quality I have been perfectly happy with mine, I suspect that some are unhappy that it is quite light compared to the heavy glass and metal construct that is the iPhone. I've been even more happy with the solidity of it since adding the innocase even if that has made the touchstone a bit more tempramental. With the case on I can now easily open one handed and dial any number from the address book with my thumb, a must for me and one of the main reasons I never got the wider (and stupidly thin) iPhone.