July 2 - 11:55am EDT   Sales of the Palm Pre have cooled off to where supply is keeping up with demand, JPMorgan analyst Paul Coster said in an investment note today. He believes that about 270,000 Pres will have shipped in the first month of sales but that waiting lists have largely been reduced, revealing a near-ideal balance in what Palm ships each day. About 40,000 of the smartphones are estimated to now ship each week through Sprint directly, while more should also arrive through Best Buy and Radio Shack. [full story]

June 30 - 3:50pm EDT   About half of all prospective smartphone buyers don't get one because of the glut of models, Best Buy noted today in a study. Of those who don't already own a smartphone, 47 percent said they were "too confused" by the sheer number of phones and range of features. Roughly 63 percent of all those studied didn't own one because they thought it was too expensive; 39 percent of those who don't own one specifically hated the shopping experience. [full story]

June 26 - 11:10am EDT   Microsoft is considering offering Windows 7 on USB flash drives to make upgrades easier for systems without optical drives, a source claimed on Friday. The unnamed contact explains to CNET that the company is looking at the move to make it easier to upgrade netbooks in particular, which currently need either an external drive or else the elaborate creation of a bootable USB drive. Whether this would involve copy protection beyond a CD key isn't known. [full story]

June 25 - 10:55am EDT   Sonic Solutions, the company behind Roxio, on Thursday announced its streaming movie service CinemaNow will be made available for the Nintendo Wii. Sonic will partner with Fujisoft to bring the former's content to the game console via the latter's video-on-demand Everyone's Theater Wii service. While the announcement only covers Japan, its successful integration potentially leads to the service arriving in other countries as well. CinemaNow offers more than 1,500 streaming movies, short films, and concerts to buy or rent. [full story]

June 12 - 3:35pm EDT   Best Buy is planning to extend its insurance options to the iPhone 3GS, say people close to the matter. When the phone goes on sale through the retailer on June 19th, beginning at 10AM, buyers should have the option of attaching Black Tie Protection, which alongside conventional issues can cover various forms of accidental damage, such as drops and spills. Apple's two-year AppleCare warranty omits much of that coverage, and AT&T has refused to provide any form of insurance. [full story]

June 12 - 2:45pm EDT   Sprint today confirmed that its version of the HTC Snap will ship this month. A close variant of the reference phone that was unveiled in April, its version switches to CDMA for calls, adds EVDO-based 3G and changes some of the visual design without affecting the QWERTY keyboard. It keeps the trademark Inner Circle feature for showing messages only from the owner's most important contacts but extends the GPS to work with Sprint's navigation service. The 2-megapixel camera and Wi-Fi have also been preserved in the adaptation. [full story]

June 12 - 2:15pm EDT   Estimates by JPMorgan analyst Paul Coster published on Friday suggest that Palm may have already doubled its shipments of the Pre. Earlier predictions had Palm shipping as many as 55,000 units, but Coster concludes through studying retail activity that Palm has already shipped another 50,000 of the smartphones in less than a week. Many Sprint stores have received between 10 and 15 more phones every two days, while Radio Shack has also received an update. Unusually, Best Buy appears to have received none extra since the June 6th date. [full story]

June 6 - 10:45am EDT   (Updated with photos) Sprint today officially started sales of the Palm Pre, its first multi-touch phone and what's been regarded as the most direct contender with the iPhone. Initial reports of stock sent to Electronista vary and show that both supply and demand vary heavily depending on the region: Sprint stores, particularly in major cities like New York, have relatively large supply of as much as 100 or more. However, third-party stores like Best Buy and Radio Shack have relatively much smaller supply and little to no queuing. [full story]

June 5 - 1:10pm EDT   In advance of Windows 7's October 22nd release date, Best Buy has begun circulating an internal memo on upgrade options. At the core of the retailer's plans is the Technology Guarantee, which will provide buyers of Vista PCs and software packages with a free copy of Windows 7. The option will only apply for the Home Premium, Business or Ultimate editions of Vista however, and only between June 26th and October 22nd. [full story]

June 2 - 4:55pm EDT   Actus LLC, patent holding company based in Marshall, Texas, has sued Apple, Amazon, Ebay, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and a number of other companies for infringing on several patents relating to methods for "conducting electronic commerce transactions using electronic tokens." The patents - Nos. 7,328,189; 7,249,099; 7,177,838; and 7,376,621 - were originally filed by a company named PayByClick. [full story]

June 1 - 11:55am EDT   iPhone inventory is now extremely limited in the Best Buy supply chain, a memo from the retailer's corporate division is said to warn. Shipments of the device are expected to be light or non-existent over the course of the next few weeks, the memo elaborates, and it is suggested that some stores may run out of product completely. The Best Buy situation follows reports of low stock at AT&T and Vodafone Australia. [full story]

May 29 - 12:35pm EDT   Sprint may drop its controversial mail-in rebate for the Palm Pre in a bid to keep customers. A contact within Sprint said late Thursday that there are "minor rumblings" within the carrier that could switch the $100 mail discount to an instant rebate. The move is said by Palm Goon to be a reaction to pricing at Best Buy and Radio Shack, both of which are already promising an immediate discount to sell their Pres at $199. [full story]

May 22 - 9:40am EDT   Best Buy's limited stock of Palm Pre devices has been discovered to be evidence of a much more pronounced shortage. An internal company launch guide obtained by BGR warns that Best Buy Mobile stores will have to manage the release in two phases. The company expects the first phase to be characterized by extremely limited supply until at least late July and that there will be "little or no replenishment" for the first few weeks. [full story]

May 21 - 7:25pm EDT   Best Buy stores are allegedly restricted to an initial distribution of 4,250 Palm Pres for the June 6th launch day, an unnamed source has told the Boy Genius Report. If true, each of the 1,000 stores to sell the device will only get 4 units at first. A separate source claims that RadioShack will only receive two phones per store, with availability limited to coastal areas such as New York, New Jersey and California. [full story]

May 20 - 12:20pm EDT   Best Buy late Tuesday claimed an edge over Sprint and said that it will sell the Palm Pre at its Best Buy Mobile ships for the same official $200 but without the mail-in rebate. The difference effectively gives the retailer a $100 price advantage over the carrier itself, which is otherwise charging $300 for the smartphone. Why the difference is possible hasn't been explained by either firm, though one rumor suggests Best Buy may have very limited stock and doesn't expect to be hurt by the discount. [full story]