06/26/2008, 5:25pm, EDT
Thursday, June 26thPalm takes loss in spring despite Centro
Palm today reported a loss in the last quarter of its financial year that suggests a continued downturn at the company despite recent efforts to improve the company's lineup. The smartphone maker reported a year-over-year change from a $15.4 million net gain in spring 2007 to a $43.4 million loss in the latest quarter, while the company posted a significant $110.9 million loss for the past 12 months. Roughly a third of the loss could be attributed to restructuring charges as well as stocks and patents.
The loss comes in spite of record smartphone shipments at Palm, which sold through 968,000 phones in the year, or 19 percent more than it did during the same season in 2007. The spike is credited almost exclusively to the budget Centro smartphone, which is commonly accepted as having partly saved the company and surged marketshare at the expense of sorely-needed profit margins at the company. Palm has previously depended on its more lucrative but poorer-selling Treo line for profit.
The California firm says it believes that the launch of some long-anticipated Windows Mobile-based phones will help the company return back to profit. Most expect these will include the Treo 800w for Sprint and Verizon as well as the Treo 850 for AT&T, though both are considered stopgap measures until Palm can release its Linux-based PalmOS replacement and matching phones in 2009.
Filed under: gadgets
Other story tags: Linux, AT&T, Windows Mobile, Palm, Treo, Centro
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Old and tired
Palm is losing money because it's been hawking the same dated phones and OS for far too long now. Where's our Linux-based OS? No, "2009" doesn't count. They said it was coming YEARS ago.
Good bye
I say good bye to Palm. There haven't done anything interesting in years.
Step aside and make room for Android, iPhone, Symbian, LiMo, etc.
Second the statement
I loved my Palm IIIc PDA; my Zire 72 not so much. My next PDA will be an iPod touch. If I were in the market for a phone it sure as hell wouldn't be a Centro with its decade-ago tech. I'd spring for the iPhone. Too bad Palm lost its way. That is why I am an Apple fan: innovation. Palm had it once upon time, but rested for too long.
Palm Cobalt
Yes, Palm was a bit like Apple...couldn't make a decision on how to replace classic Palm OS, they did the whole cobalt thing, and scrapped it.
Apple did the same with its System 7 replacement...after years of delay they came out with Mac OS 8...significant only for the fact, that they finally came out with something...it was still a long while before they finally got the real solution in Mac OS X.
Apple hung around until they finally that the guts to make the move...I wonder if Palm will...they sure have hung around longer than I would expected, given they haven't been able to muster the guts to update the OS.