Verizon Wireless may be backing away from plans to sell the Palm Pre next year, according to a recent report on TheStreet.com, citing an anonymous source.

Sales of the Pre (which is already offered by Sprint) have apparently not been strong enough to keep Verizon interested, even though the company’s CEO, Lowell McAdam, promised to offer “devices like the Palm Pre” in the coming months.

Analysts doubt rumours that Verizon will reject the Pre outright, but agree that it probably won’t dedicate as much marketing attention to it as some other smartphones.

“Normally, for an exclusive like the Pre or the (BlackBerry) Storm, the carrier will provide more marketing support,” said Morgan Keegan analyst, Tavis McCourt. “But the Pre has been out for seven months. So I wouldn’t be surprised if Verizon doesn’t commit as much money to marketing it.”

Nevertheless, McCourt does expect the device to appear in Verizon retail stores in January, noting that “Verizon has carried just about every Palm product in its history, and the Pre is clearly the best.”