Palm Sales Down Dramatically

Posted By: Ed Wednesday, August 16, 2000 10:22:20 AM

OneChannel.net has posted a report showing that, in the second quarter of this year, retail sales of Palm's handhelds were down 45% from the first quarter. They chalk this up to supply shortages and competition from Handspring. One side effect of this is Handspring having the best selling PDA in June.

Also, they say that the "average selling price increased from $249 at the beginning of Q2 to a record high for the year of $323 in the final week of Q2. " This seems to show that demand for Palm's products remains high.

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Could it be lack of new innovations?

I.M. Anonymous @ 8/16/2000 3:13:23 PM #
My gut tells me that everyone is waiting for the next generation of palm devices, which are promising to have more power and potential for expandability, which would explain why sales are down. Also, users who are impatient and starved for expandability are jumping over to the Handspring/TRG (and soon Sony) camp because they are providing what Palm is still promising.

Hurry up Palm! You're getting left in the dust!

BTW: The increase in average selling price probably has more to do with Palm hardware getting more expensive than there being more of a demand.

RE: Could it be lack of new innovations?
Eric Garrido @ 8/16/2000 6:29:00 PM #
I agree that people are waiting for "the next generation". That's what I'm waiting for, and frankly, I'm very excited.
RE: Could it be lack of new innovations?
I.M. Anonymous @ 8/16/2000 8:51:04 PM #
Two words: PALM ECONOMY

The success of the Palm platform does not rest solely on the sales of Palm-branded units. Even Palm knows this.

>>The increase in average selling price probably has more to do with Palm hardware getting more expensive than there being more of a demand.<<

Huh? Total horse shit. Name *one* model Palm that has increased in price. Actually, don't bother...because they haven't. Despite the fact that Palm is probably selling more high-end models than before, this isn't because they're "getting more expensive" across the board. First of all, models like the IIIc, Vx, and VIIx didn't exist until fairly recently. Secondly, Palm.net (and consequently the Palm VII/VIIx) has come down in price and sales of the devices are up as a result. Likewise, the price of the devices has actually gone *down* (the VII price fell when the VIIx was announced), not up. The price of Palm's entry level device is at an all-time low, as well ($149 for the m100). Let's not forget that the most expensive Palm device is still cheaper than most entry-level CE handhelds (and don't try to counter with that "you get what you pay for" crap...a CE device is not a Palm, and vice versa).

Anybody who thinks Palm handhelds are expensive is simply not paying attention.

RE: Could it be lack of new innovations?
Brett @ 8/17/2000 2:14:42 AM #
Two of the new models within the last two quarters were the Vx and IIIc. Both were $400+. Is it possible that the sale of these products would raise the average? Who cares anyway… its all statistics and companies manipulate and speculate them to say whatever benefits their situation.

Expensive? The flagship palms cost almost twice as much today as they did two years ago (I don’t see that parallel in the desktop/laptop industry). It will be interesting to see how much the “next-gen” Palms will cost (at least by then it may be worth it).

Don’t get me wrong. I love my PalmIII. It just seems like every product since the IIIx has just been a knee-jerk reaction to competition rather than a well thought out “next step”...Disappointing.

That is enough incessant rambling... You may flame away now. :)

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