The highly-expected Palm Pre mobile phone is getting closer and closer to being launched on the market, and some more rumors on it have recently surfaced into the wild, one of which concerns the possibility that some hardware and software problems could lead to a smaller number of units becoming available at launch.

According to the news, it seems that said issues have determined Palm to reduce the production orders for the Pre with the ODM (original device manufacturer) partner, Chi Mei, a majority-owned subsidiary of the widely known giant Foxconn. An article published by LinuxDevices suggests that the hardware problems are real, and that Palm won't be able to reach 1 million Pre units shipped during the ongoing year after all.

As many of you might already know, Pre is expected to include a wide range of capabilities when launched on the US market, exclusively on the wireless carrier Sprint, and all of its features can supposedly turn the device into a powerful competitor against Apple's iPhone, which has just lost its crown of the best-selling device in the country in favor of the BlackBerry Curve 8300 series.

At the same time, we should also note that Palm needs the phone to become successful after launch so as to help it overcome the financial problems it is currently facing. The device has been announced to become available in the first half of the ongoing year, and it is expected to be launched at a certain point in June, most probably on the 7th. Reportedly, Palm would have to get the Pre on the market before rival Apple launches a new iteration of the iPhone OS, or a new phone model, both expected to surface sometime during summer.

For what it's worth, it seems that said manufacturing problems would only affect the number of units shipped to the market, and no reports on possible launch delays have been spotted. Hopefully, the rumors on these technical issues will prove false in the end, and Palm and Sprint will be able to supply enough devices to meet demand.