Verizon to sell Palm Pre, new BlackBerry phones

Palm Inc's (PALM.O) iPhone competitor Pre got an unexpected boost on Thursday as No. 1 U.S. mobile service Verizon Wireless said Pre would be part of its upcoming device line-up, sending Palm shares up 8.8 percent.

Palm is depending heavily on Pre to revamp its own business and regain market share from rivals such as Apple Inc (AAPL.O). Pre is also seen as key to helping stem customer losses at Verizon's smaller rival Sprint Nextel Corp (S.N), which is launching the Pre exclusively on June 6.

Verizon, the No. 1 U.S. mobile service, will offer Pre in the next six months or so, company Chief Executive Lowell McAdam said during a conference webcast.

Verizon Wireless said its phone line-up would also include a new version of the touchscreen controlled BlackBerry Storm from Research In Motion Ltd (RIM.TO)(RIMM.O) and a new BlackBerry called Tour. Also slated are devices from Motorola Inc (MOT.N) and phones based on Android, the Google Inc (GOOG.O) mobile system.

"Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm," on the Verizon Wireless network, McAdam said. "You can expect to see us launch a steady stream of new devices from multiple vendors."

Some analysts had worried that Palm was limiting Pre's success by forging an exclusive agreement with Sprint, which lasts at least until year end, as first reported by Reuters in February and confirmed by Sprint on Thursday.

As a result, UBS analyst Maynard Um said Verizon's Pre news was encouraging for Palm investors. But the analyst predicted increasing competition in the advanced phone market, saying that Motorola "could be the wildcard in the smartphone race" as it has the potential to be most aggressive on price.

"However, visibility in an increasingly competitive market is still limited," the analyst said in a research note.

Um also said he expects other new Palm phones based on the same operating system as Pre. For example Randall Stephenson, the chief Executive for AT&T Inc (T.N), the No. 2 U.S. mobile service, had said during a conference on Wednesday that his company would also like to sell Pre but he did not give a timeframe. AT&T uses a different network technology to Sprint.

The comments come ahead of Sprint's long-awaited Saturday, June 6, launch of Pre and the expected announcement of a new iPhone from Apple in the week after that.

Top executives from both Palm and Sprint have said they expect Pre shortages around the launch because of strong demand.

McAdam's announcement was also a boost for Motorola Inc (MOT.N), which has been steadily losing market share and is pinning its hopes on the launch of a new line-up of advanced phones based on Android later this year.

Source NEW YORK (Reuters) -