Palm, the struggling US-based manufacturer of Treo handsets, is counting on its new Palm Pre smartphone device and the WebOS operating system software that powers it, to revive its flagging fortunes.

So does the Pre, which went on sale for $200 (after a $100 rebate) at midnight in the US through Sprint Nextel, the third largest US mobile network operator, deliver? (Palm is working on a version for European network operators.)