Palm R&D Spending Increases 116%

In Palm's most recent Annual Report, they said their research and development expenses were $160.3 million in fiscal year 2001, which ended in June. That's an increase of $86.0 million or 116% over the $74.3 million in fiscal year 2000. They spent 10.3% of their revenues on R&D.

They attributed the increase to hiring more engineers and expenses to support new products introduced during the year, such as the m100, m105, m500, and m505, and expansion of development efforts in areas such as wireless Internet solutions and future versions of the Palm OS.

Most of their research and development costs go to salaries and benefits for engineers, travel expenses, bonuses, related facilities costs, and project and development related expenses. They increased their number of engineers 55% during the year.

The said they expect to spent about the same amount for R&D in the next year.

Related Information:

• PIC: Palm Forum