Nov 16, 2010 18:41 GMT  ·  By

Wireless carrier Sprint, the first operator to make the Palm Pre and its webOS platform available for purchase in the United States, has reportedly discontinued the device.

As previously reported, the mobile phone carrier has already removed the Palm Pre from its website, and it appears that the company also marked it as EOL (End of Life).

However, it seems that Sprint is not completely done with the Palm Pre at the moment, as very low quantities of this device can still be found in the carrier's warehouses.

Even so, as the guys over at PreCentral note, it shouldn't be too long before the smartphone is completely sold out at Sprint.

Of course, the second webOS-based handset at Sprint, the Palm Pixi, is available on the carrier's network, but the more appealing Palm Pre will soon disappear completely from the offering.

Although nothing was unveiled officially on the matter, there are great chances that Sprint and HP/Palm are preparing for the launch of Palm Pre 2 on the United States market.

The phone maker announced a few weeks ago that Palm Pre 2, the first smartphone it brought to the market with the webOS 2.0 platform on board, should become available in the US in the coming months via wireless carrier Verizon.

Since both Sprint and Verizon are CDMA carriers, having the Pre 2 available at the former too won't come too much as a surprise, that's for sure.

According to HP, the GSM flavor of Palm Pre 2 will also be available for purchase in the country but only unlocked via its website.

Palm Pre was not too much of a great selling device, but it did manage to create quite a hype before being put on sale at Sprint in June last year. The wireless carrier also called it its flagship phone for a while.

Pre 2 comes with the same design as the predecessor, though with improved hardware specs, and should be able to offer an enhanced experience to its users.