Verizon Drops Prices on Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, BlackBerry Curve

In a two-birds-with-one-stone move, Verizon Wireless (VZ) announced it was slicing the prices on its Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus by more than 60%.

The price cuts were part of a pre-Mother's Day promotion that not only serves to drive more sales, but will also thin out the carrier's existing inventory. For Palm (PALM), that could be a much-needed boost: The struggling smartphone maker saw its unit shipments falter in the last quarter.

Verizon cut its Palm Pre Plus pricing to $49.99 from $149.99, with a two-year contract and rebate, said Brenda Raney, a Verizon spokeswoman, in an email. The Palm Pixi Plus was dropped to $29.99 from $79.99 with similar terms.

"The changes are all part of our pre-Mother's Day promotions," Raney said in an email. "This is a retail business and promotions are in keeping with the industry as a way of providing customers with incentives to examine and purchase new products."

She added the carrier maintains approximately 30 devices in its portfolio, and it continually promotes and replenishes its stock in those devices.

Verizon also initiated a steep price cut for its BlackBerry Curve, lowering the buy-one-get-one-free price to $29 after a rebate from $99 at its launch, marking nearly a 71% discount.

Wall Street recently spanked BlackBerry's maker, Research In Motion (RIMM), when the company issued earnings results that reflected weaker than expected shipments of its devices in its last quarter.

While Verizon declined to discuss its product inventory levels, the more the carrier sells, the better it is for the mobile device makers who hope to replenish the telcos' supplies with more sales.

But the real winner in all of this may be mom. (Psst ... for those of you who forgot: Mother's Day is May 9.)