The Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre may have managed to muster considerable buzz before its impending launch—the exact date which has yet to be announced—but according to Bloomberg, Palm may end up selling fewer than half as many Pres as Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) sold iPhones when the device first launched. Though Palm’s stock has nearly doubled this year on high expectations of the Pre, the median estimate of a Bloomberg survey of 10 analysts puts Palm’s shipment of Pres in the first year at 2.6 million. Apple, meanwhile, sold 6.1 million iPhones in the full year after its 2007 launch.

SEE ALSO: Highlights From The Palm Pre Webcast

The economic crisis is one factor affecting the Pre’s future sales. Avian Securities analyst Matt Thornton noted that “consumer demand two summers ago or even last summer was much better and was before the market started to tank.” He said, “So it does make things much tougher for Palm.” Interbrand’s New York head Andy Bateman also tells the news wire that Palm doesn’t have the same base of “devotees” as Apple to rely on, nor Blackberry’s corporate audience. As for its brand, it’s a “little dusty.”

So far, Palm has only announced one carrier partner that will offer the Pre—Sprint (NYSE: S). But Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt said that Palm needed to sell 5.5 million units in a year to revive profits, and 8 million units to justify their current share price. This means that Palm has got to secure more carrier deals. Rumors have circulated that the Pre may surface at Europe’s Telefonica (NYSE: TEF), which has operations in Europe and Latin America, as well as Verizon (NYSE: VZ). Both companies, however, haven’t confirmed whether this will happen.