NEW YORK, USA: Palm Inc's iPhone competitor Pre got an unexpected boost as the US mobile service provider Verizon Wireless said Pre would be part of its upcoming device line-up, sending Palm shares 8.8 percent higher.

Palm is depending heavily on Pre to galvanize its business and regain market share from rivals such as Apple Inc. Pre is also seen as key to helping stem customer losses at Verizon's smaller rival Sprint Nextel Corp, which is launching the Pre exclusively on June 6.

Verizon, will offer Pre in "six months or so," company chief executive Lowell McAdam said during a conference webcast.

Verizon Wireless said its phone line-up would also include a new version of the touchscreen controlled BlackBerry Storm from Research In Motion Ltd and a new BlackBerry called Tour. Also slated are devices from Motorola Inc and phones based on Android, the Google Inc mobile system.

"Over the next six months or so you will see devices like Palm Pre and a second generation Storm" on the Verizon Wireless network, McAdam said. "You can expect to see us launch a steady stream of new devices from multiple vendors."

Some analysts had worried that Palm was limiting Pre's success by forging an exclusive agreement with Sprint, which lasts at least until year-end.

As a result, UBS analyst Maynard Um said Verizon's Pre news was encouraging for Palm investors. But the analyst predicted increasing competition in the advanced phone market, saying that Motorola "could be the wildcard in the smartphone race" as it has the potential to be most aggressive on price.

"However, visibility in an increasingly competitive market is still limited," the analyst said in a research note.

Um also said he expects other new Palm phones based on the same operating system as Pre. For example Randall Stephenson, the chief executive of AT&T Inc, said during a conference on that his company would also like to sell Pre but he did not give a timeframe. AT&T uses a different network technology from Sprint.