In an article recently published by Reuters, 5 analysts estimated the Palm Pre will sell about 632,000 Palm Pre phones by August, when the company’s first fiscal quarter ends:

About 623,000 Pres are expected to move in Palm’s fiscal first quarter ending August, five analysts polled by Reuters said. Estimates ranged from 500,000 to 865,000 phones.

At the high end, not even 1 million phones will be sold, and I’m wondering if the limitation will be due to product shortages or lack of demand? Probably the first of the two. The article compares this sub-1million number to sales of the iPhone last year:

That would be a fraction of Apple’s launch-quarter sales of 6.89 million for the iPhone that started selling around the world last July. But it’s still an ambitious estimate for one phone at Palm, which had third-quarter phone sales of 482,000.

There is a key difference… “around the world” and “In the United States on Sprint” are two totally different items you’re comparing. How many of those 6.89 million were sold in the United States? That would make for much better statistical evaluation. I sifted around for that information but came up empty handed – if you can find it please provide a link in the comments!

I think more than a half a million sales in a quarter would be a great start for Palm, who knows that not only will the Palm Pre launch on other networks and overseas in the near future, but other WebOS phones will begin rolling out. The Palm Pre doesn’t have to be the Palm savior, just a solid foot in the door for WebOS.

If you ask me, developer support is the key factor behind the success or failure of WebOS. It doesn’t seem they’ve tried to rally the troops and the system, as far as I know, is closed although declared open when announced. What gives, Palm? To be successful and compete with the iPhone and Android, you’re going to need the support of developers. You’ve got to open the doors to smell the sweet success of WebOS!