Palm Centro Reaches 2 Million Sold

The Palm Centro smart phone has now sold 2 million units, a signal that Palm is staging a comeback after years of struggle and that the Sunnyvale, Calif.-based device maker is attempting to take a strong bite out of the success of the Apple iPhone 3G.

According to Palm, the two-millionth Centro sold confirms that the $99 price tag has helped the mobile device gain momentum. Palm has said the Centro is a device geared toward first-time smart phone buyers and traditional mobile phone users who want to move up to a device that offers more functionality.

Currently, the Centro is available in more than 25 countries throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

Along with hitting the 2 million milestone, recent data by AdMob, the largest advertising network on the mobile Web, Palm has elbowed its way into the No. 7 spot on the list of top 10 mobile phones worldwide. The Centro held the No. 8 spot for May and moved up one place last month.

According to AdMob, the growth of inexpensive phones, like the Palm Centro, have been a solid driver for mobile Internet usage.

"Consumers are ready to do more with their mobile phone, and Centro has struck a chord around the world," said Palm's senior vice president of marketing, Broadie Keast, said in a statement. "Centro has everything a person needs to stay connected with everyone who is important to them " and at a price point and size that make smart phones more attractive to a much wider audience."

AdMob said Palm has shown strong growth among smart phone manufacturers, ranking No. 2 in the United States in mobile advertising reach, and No. 3 worldwide. The AdMob report analyses worldwide data to gauge mobile Internet use among devices able to receive mobile ads. The report also noted that 24.3 percent of worldwide ad requests in June were from smart phones, up from 22.4 percent in May. The statistics show that more consumers are ditching their traditional mobile phones in favor of smart phones and devices with more functionality like the mobile Internet.

Nearly 20 carriers worldwide now offer the Centro. In the U.S., the Palm Centro is available through Verizon Wireless, Sprint and AT&T. An unlocked Palm Centro is also available and can work on any GSM network. One of the major selling points for the Centro has been its affordability. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon offer the Centro for a hair less than $100, and the unlocked version costs $299.

The Centro features a full QWERTY keyboard and color touch screen for text messaging, mobile email, instant messaging and Web browsing. The Centro, which is a more consumer-focused device than Palm's main business device, the Treo smart phone, adds in multimedia functionality like music, videos and a camera.

Introduced in September, the Palm Centro hit the 1 million devices sold mark earlier this year, with the second million taking a much shorter time. Industry analysts have pegged the Palm Centro as a potential iPhone killer, despite the Apple iPhone 3G selling 1 million devices during its first weekend.

Along with battling the iPhone, the Palm Centro must also duke it out with Research In Motion Ltd.'s popular BlackBerry line, which has earned a faithful following that is expected to increase as BlackBerry releases the BlackBerry Bold 9000 and the rumored BlackBerry Thunder.

To spice up the competition and build on the buzz the Centro is generating Palm has also reinvented the Treo, its long-standing flagship device. Earlier this month, Sprint announced the release of the Palm Treo 800w. The latest Treo runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional as its operating system, a Treo choice for Microsoft purists not wanting to run Palm's own OS. The Treo 800w also features GPS, Wi-Fi and EVDO Rev. A.

The Palm Treo 880w measures 4.4 x 2.3 x 0.7 inches and weighs in at 5 ounces, making it slimmer and more streamlined than earlier Treo iterations. It offers a 320 x 320 resolution touch screen along with a full QWERTY keypad. In addition, the Treo 800w has a 2.0-megapixel camera with camcorder, built-in media player and stereo Bluetooth. It also features a MicroSD card slot for up to 8 GB of memory.