There are at least three ways to interpret the Pre/iPhone app download information discussed in this TechCrunch item...

The Pre App Catalog Is Tracking Way, Way Behind Apple's App Store. And It's Palm's Fault.

1. This is an unfair Apples and orangesPalm comparison. iPhone owners had a full year to get comfortable with the iPhone and a five years to get to know the iTunes store before the first iPhone app became available. Even if you never used iTunes before, the newbie iTunes user probably knew someone to talk with to learn a few things about it. The Palm Pre and its app store launched simultaneously. People are still learning their way about the Pre and its built-in apps. They'll wander over to the app store in a few months after the initial included apps novelty wears off.

2. Palm had 11 months to study the iPhone phenomena. In fact, a good number of Palm's Pre team came from Apple. They should have known better and prepared better.

3. As TechCrunch's MG Siegler says, Palm simply blew it because they didn't get the Pre's webOS SDK (Software Development Kit) out to enough developers.

In reality, it is probably a combination of all three interpretations above: Poor execution, poor outreach and the lack of an existing user base.

And, oh yes, those numbers from TechCrunch's article: 60 million iPhone apps were downloaded the first month after the iTunes App Store started up. It looks like about a million Pre apps will be downloaded when the Pre's app store turns 1 year old.