If Commercial Times is to be believed (and that’s not always a lock), the Palm Pixi headed for Verizon may be in some form of notorious Verizon trouble. Verizon has a reputation in the cell phone world for holding up releases for an almost interminable period of time until they meet their stringent standards. While that has resulted in a great network, it also means that their customers are sometimes (often) frustrated by the delays new phones face.
Palm is not getting any special treatment from Big Red, as it seems the Pixi’s software “has failed to pass tests conducted by Palm’s client, Verizon Wireless.” Commercial Times reports that Palm has reduced its Pixi order from ODM partner Compal Communications from 800,000 units in Q4 2009 to 600,000 units. They also expect that the Pixi will not begin shipping en masse to until Q1 2010. So while we do expect that the Pre will launch on Verizon early next year (we’re thinking soon after the CES event), the Pixi may take a bit longer.
It is worth noting that Commerical Times also reported back in March that the Pre was delayed until the end of this year. That didn’t really work out, so set aside a few grains of salt before taking this rumor to the bank.
[via: Digitimes]