Having said that, I've got a friend who got a pre, and he ended up giving his iPhone to his girlfriend and can't stop raving about the pre.
They aren't out of this yet, but I think there challenge will be in communicating and educating an audience about their products.
I don't know that the carriers are the best channel to rely on for marketing of the devices. The carrier will offer incentives, and push devices that are giving the carrier or reps the best business value.
I think palm needs to get customers coming into the store asking for the palm products.
This challenge is further hampered with the number of android, blackberry and soon to be winPhone7 devices.
The stores can have a wall of android, a kiosk of blackberry, and I suspect will have a section dedicated to winPhone7. With only two devices that are visually differentiated, they don't have either the recognizable presence of an iPhone, or the diversity of other platforms.
I think Palm is a good acquisition target for RIM(blackberry). They've done a great job with the OS (one area where palm has really faltered). Both companies have a history in the corporate world, and I think the palm experience could make a good dent in the consumer market, if they had the right partners, and at this point, enough runway.