Sprint has issued a new press release this afternoon that says the Palm Pre broke Sprints own record for a new phone debut. Despite the numerous unconfirmed analyst reports of over 50,000 sold, Sprint has not released any actual sales numbers. Rather they state:

By late Sunday, Palm Pre had broken previous sales records (first day and first weekend) for a Sprint device.

Palm's website and official blog have posted new information on the range of third party apps available for the Pre. There are now over 20 or so apps now available through Palm's on device App Catalog.

Palm has yet to release a public SDK, so the apps currently showing up have been developed by Palm's launch partners. Some additional new applications have been added to the Catalog today and plenty of new ones could possibly be released before grand SDK unveiling.

For those of you that need more than Synergy and Microsoft Exchange for your Palm Pre syncing needs, a number of new synchronization software options have just been announced.

Software from CompanionLink, Chapura and eventually Mark/Space will help assist Pre users sync over data stored in various other software solutions. Each of the companies has a current solution for some situations and each is working on more robust options once the webOS SDK is publicly available.

It's a rite of passage for any new gadget: a painstaking, inch-by-inch public autopsy. We posted earlier about a similar Pre disassembly gallery, and now iFixIt has also posted another Palm Pre guts gallery along with a similar treatment for the Palm Touchstone kit. PhoneWreck's analysis goes another step forward with an interesting Palm Pre parts analysis:

There are some pretty interesting things that popped up on the Pre's PCB's. This is the first production device we've seen on the OMAP3 (Open Media Applications Processor) platform. OMAP3 is powered by the 600MHZ ARM Cortex A8, PowerVR SGX 530 (GPU), 430MHz C64x, DSP and ISP (Image Signal Processor) and was clearly designed to pack a punch. [...]
The OMAP3 PMIC comes loaded with a USB tranceiver and Audio codec which even further reduces the overall board density of this device. We're not fully sure - but it looks as if the Pre's cool new multi-touch Touch Screen Controller win went to Cypress Semiconductor with the CP6944BA device.

In addition to Palm's recent China/nature/zen/danceathon inspired commercial for the Pre, Sprint has produced another TV spot made specifically for the Palm Pre.

Sprint's 30 second commercial revolves around a large live recreation of a Facebook profile. A narrator chimes in and states "Now there is a phone that truly lives in real time, introducing the Palm Pre from Sprint. With a revolutionary WebOS it constantly updates live multiple applications. Designed for the now network." You can catch the clip after the break.

Reports from all over say this weekend's Launch of the Palm Pre was a success. Most Sprint retail stores reported selling out of the initial stock and have starting taking names for a waiting list as new units come in. Analysts are all over in guesstimating actual sales numbers. A report from Bloomberg cites one who reckons Palm sold over 150,000 units, while another in the Wall Street Journal say they exceeded 50,000.

JPMorgan said: "Sales in the first two days probably exceed 50,000, which aligns with our expectations," but probably fell short of the 146,000 reported for the first-generation Apple Inc. (AAPL, $141.35, -$3.32, -2.29%) iPhone because of "capacity constraints in manufacturing." JPMorgan said calls to different U.S. stores reveal the phone is sold out.

Palm's online store today added a collection of Palm Pre accessories. In addition, the store is offering free shipping on all orders over $49.

Pre accessories now available for purchase include the Palm Touchstone Charging Kit (review here). When ordered online, there are multiple configurations or bundles for the Touchstone including options that come with an additional microUSB cable and dual docks. Additionally, each component is also sold separately including the dock and back cover.

The site RapidRepair.com has posted a complete Palm Pre tear-down and photo gallery. The how to walks through (in nearly sickening detail) the Pre's disassembly processes and comes complete with some nice high resolution photos.

If gadget dissection and close up guts picks is your thing, leave your spudger behind and checkout the link above.

Discussion: With the Pre's launch day now finally upon us, we'd like to hear how you made out. Did you brave the cold night on a sidewalk, find long lines or simply walk right into a store at 8 am? Let us know what the scene like in your neck of the woods. What was the stock situation like? Were there a lot of folks out for the Pre?

If you were among the lucky ones that picked one up, post and share your thoughts on the device so far in the comments below.

The Palm Touchstone is a charging dock that permits wireless recharging of the Palm Pre via induction technology. It is sold with the Touchstone Charging kit, which also includes the required soft touch back cover replacement. The accessory is available at launch with the Pre for $69.99 online and in stores.

Drastically different in both appearance and functionality and possessing much more pizzazz any of Palm's past accessory releases, the Palm Touchstone is a stunning little device in its own right that deserves a further look for anyone who is traditionally fond of desktop charging cradle solutions.

Read on for the full review.

Amidst all of the continuing coverage of the lead up to the Palm Pre launch, comes two new articles which shed light on the design and development process behind the Pre. Elevation's Favorite rag, Forbes, has posted an article which includes comments from four of the Palm engineers (Matias Duarte, Mike Bell, Peter Skillman and Michael Abbott.) on the Pre's design team. The story also includes a little history lesson as well as some interesting tidbits on the inspiration behind the development process.

Another interesting piece on the same theme comes from the UXbyDesign blog. They have posted an interview with Michelle Koh who was responsible for designing various components of the WebOS user interface including the universal search, phone and contact applications.