In an apparent attempt to lure prospective buyers and looking towards a potential sale out of its much-awaited Pre, Palm Inc has decided to stockpile fewer than 400,000 models of the touch-screen device, which will hit the markets this year! Going by the average estimates of Bloomberg-surveyed six analysts, the Pre is likely to debut with a stock of about 375,000 units.

According to iSuppli Corp, the implicit teardown of Pre smartphone carries an expected materials cost of $170.02 apiece - including manufacturing cost of $9.58; hardware cost $137.83; licenses for software and intellectual property cost $22.61; and the display and touchscreen cost $39.51.

Palm would likely charge Sprint Nextel Inc - Pre's exclusive carrier - $300 for the smartphone, but is expected to charge customers $200, due to a subsidy that the carrier pays when customers sign new contracts.

Elaborating Pre's features, Tina Teng, an iSuppli analyst, said that some of its features are similar to Apple's iPhone, particularly the multi-touch display. Teng added: "The use of the multi-touch screen and Palm's innovative webOS operating system, are likely to allow the Pre to appeal to a broad range of consumers, far beyond the company's core group of business-oriented customers."

No wonder, Brad Williams, a fund manager at Baltimore's MTB Investment Advisors, has called the Pre a "make-or-break product" for Palm!