Palm slips on sales concerns

NEW YORK: Shares of Palm Inc slipped on Monday amid concerns that early sales of its highly anticipated new phone, the Pre, fell short of expectations and that its launch may be overshadowed by supply constraints.

Palm shares closed down 6.5 percent after falling as much as 11.8 percent earlier in the session, two days after it kicked off sales of Pre to small crowds at many of the stores operated by Sprint Nextel - the exclusive US provider of the phone. Pre is seen as a rival to Apple Inc's iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd's Blackberry.

Sprint said the device had record sales for a first weekend of a phone launch and that it was restocking Pre "as fast as Palm can make them" after selling out in many locations.