palmOne to Cut 12% of Staff, Shifting to Smartphones
palmOne today announced it has initiated a second phase of the integration process that began when the company acquired Handspring, Inc. in Oct. The company is rebalancing the investment levels in its handheld computer and smartphone product families, and reducing its work force by about 100 people, or 12 percent.
The work force reduction affects positions across most functions, streamlining the company as part of a plan to achieve growth and profitability in fiscal year 2005.
"We intend to maintain our lead in the handheld-computer category with new, innovative solutions while we shift more investment toward the higher-growth smartphone category," said Todd Bradley, palmOne president and chief executive officer. "The Handspring acquisition continues to deliver synergies, and tough but strategic decisions coupled with operational discipline enable us to reduce overall spending. We are committed to delivering growth and profitability, and these actions will move us closer to those goals."
After the work force reduction, palmOne will have approximately 740 employees. palmOne is the name adopted in October 2003 by Palm, Inc., when it spun off PalmSource, Inc., maker of the Palm OS platform software, and acquired Handspring, Inc. Uniting the Zire, Tungsten and Treo subbrands, the creation of palmOne launched a new, stronger market leader in handheld computer and communications hardware and software solutions.
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RE: Shift to Smart Phones?
Different company but...similarly distressing news
Fossil has finally put the last nail in the coffin of their PDA-watch. I honestly have to say I saw this coming from the day it was announced--I actually first speculated that this was a huge hoax or something. I assume that the handful of units that actually were produced (ala Voodoo 6000) will be huge collectors' items someday.
A brief moment of nostalgia (ie, why a Fossil watch, IMHO, would never work):
I had a few of those nifty Casio databank touchscreen watches back in the early 90's. Phone book, calculator, world clock, stopwatch & countdown timer. Even a few little primitive GUI icons! They had no hard buttons anywhere on the unit and the screen was recessed. They also omitted a backlight, though a later revision in the late 90's added the indiglo-type EL light. It was a nightmare to input data, lacking any sort of stylus-type device (of course, no RS232 PC link either), so I would frequently use ballpoint pen caps and straws etc. I went though two or three of those screens before I gave up, went back to an analog watch, and carried a little black book until I got my first Pilot 1000 back in '96 or so.
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
http://www.palminfocenter.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19914
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
That is to say, I strongly agree with both theories! MS are being very sneaky and trying to cut off Palm's 3rd party supporters one by one, especially if it might be someone who has had an ensouring experience or two in the past on the Palm platform (underwhelming sales, OS or driver development woes, inadequate from Palm(source) etc).
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
Mike
CCO, PalmSource Inc.
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
Btw, I mentioned to say " 'inadequate support' from Palm(source) etc." in the above comment but due to being an immediately pre-lunch post, my brain was not as cooperative as it should've been. LOL
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
Mike
CCO, PalmSource Inc.<<<
Good god, not another watch. Here is a hint: Nobody wants to wear a watch that need to be recharge every half a year, let alone every day. That't what a cellphone is for.
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
Who's gonna want to wear a stupid looking techie watch?
I think people would rather save some money and buy a nice Tag or Citizen or Seiko or whatever. Watches are for telling time or a status symbol.
================================
PDAs rule the world !
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
Amen to that!
Who's gonna want to wear a stupid looking techie watch?
I think people would rather save some money and buy a nice Tag or Citizen or Seiko or whatever. Watches are for telling time or a status symbol.
"
If people were all like you, we'd never ever have had digital watch faces... change happens. There will be more of these kind of devices, because the electronic device that people carry on them the greatest percentage of the time is: dum-dum - the watch. Just wait.
-Davy Fields
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Palm_OS_5/
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
I can't really see entering data on the watch as being a picnic, but I CAN see it as an extremely convenient way to carry the data from your PDA with you when you leave the PDA behind (i.e. a trip to the beach, water park, camping, although mine goes with me then, etc.) This way you still have all your contact info, memos, appointments, etc. and you can beam and receive the data. It would never replace my PDA, but would be a wonderful companion, as long as you could fit the data on the screen in a reasonably easy to read manner.
Now, for the other part, and I'll quote:
>"I put as much faith in your conspiracy theories of MS leaning on Fossil to kill the Palm watch as I do in my personal theories about MS (or others) leaning on SanDisk and/or Sandisk's out-sourced driver development team for the Palm Wi-Fi SD card.
That is to say, I strongly agree with both theories!"<
Ok, but the article says that Fossil's OEM manufacturer is/was Flextronics. Not a big deal until you realize that Flextronics is the *sole* manufacturer of MicroSoft's X-Box. That's right, they have a huge factory down near Mexico City where they manufacture the X-Box. The game console market is more lucrative than *any* PDA market, any day of the week. It's quite believable to think that perhaps MS put some pressure on Flextronics to drop the Fossil watch, which would be a niche product, or lose the X-Box come contract renewal time, especially since MS is creating the SPOT, which they have had in the works for at least a couple of years now. Where would Fossil take this to? MS has their hooks into nearly every OEM shop out there, and this is, like I said, only a niche product, not worth risking more lucrative contracts for fabbing mice, game controllers, keyboards, gaming consoles, etc.
Just my $0.02. It's anybody's guess what the truth of the matter really is, but the above scenario is not unbelievable.
_________________
Sean
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
_________________
Sean
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
Check out www.F***edCompany.com
It's amazing that products like this ever go past the prototype stage. No one ever stops to think, "Is anyone REALLY going to pay cash for this?"
It's just too big.
RE: Different company but...similarly distressing news
Go away, Pixelator...
OK good, now execute
That having been said, it's time for them to step up and roll out some cell phones that normal people actually don't mind being seen with and that they can get for "free" with a contract.
I know they're developing a smart phone version of OS 5. How hard would it be to for them to drop the thumboard and put this in a form factor like that of the MPx200. It would absolutely be my next purchase.
RE: OK good, now execute
(yeah I want to see that happens)
RE: OK good, now execute
RE: OK good, now execute
Nokia and Sony Ericsson are currently cleaning out Motorola's marketshare and confining them to the Nextel area. And then there's rumors of SE's next high end device running on Palm OS. If the p800 sold a million units with shoddy Symbian, imagine how much it could mop the floor with the rest of the competition if it ran Palm OS and was advertised to have 21,000 applications available for it, including solid 3D games, not just one rally game.
-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616
RE: OK good, now execute
It's not a rumor, it's a failed hype.
Michael Mace: the Treo 600 is now UNLOCKED. Oops!
It's not a rumor, it's a failed hype.
Get 'im, girl!
Sony to Nagel: "Who's your Daddy! Say it!"
It's sad to see Michael Mace reduced to the official Palm apologist these days. Hey Michael, lets hear your answer to this:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_story.asp?ID=6458
Treos can now be unlocked easily - Palm is in deep trouble
;-) @ 1/20/2004 3:49:40 AM
A much more important story broke yesterday when a group of hackers at Treocentral found a way to unlock GSM Treo 600 by using files found when someone's Treo crashed during an upgrade. Carriers like Orange are going to go ballistic when they see all their subsidized phones getting unlocked. The danger of these smart-phones has always been how easy it might be to unlock them. Now we see those fear were well-founded. Palm better try to fix this latest disaster PRONTO.
http://discussion.treocentral.com/tcforum/-t46561/s.html
Download it for yourself, Mike:
http://81.134.68.40/patched.zip
It's just too big.
Re: Unlocked Treo
Heck, back when I had a Kyocera 6035, I was able to unlock it so that I could jump from Sprint to Verizon to get 2-way SMS.
RE: OK good, now execute
(yeah I want to see that happens)"<
Yeah, I want to see it happen, too. Motorola has made nothing but crap for several years now in the cellphone arena, the V60 line being a notable exception, but not all that great either. About ALL that Motorola phones have going for them is that they are nearly impossible to destroy by dropping them. Sony, Nokia, Sanyo, and especially Samsung have been making much more innovative designs for years. Motorola is no longer the name people think of when the topic turns to cellphones.
_________________
Sean
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
The endgame for Palm. Gates only had to wait.
The big deal is that (two years after Handspring) Palm saw the writing on the wall and rushed to reinvent themselves as a cellphone company. But they have no cred with the carriers and were between a rock and a hard place, so they signed a series of horrible deals with the major carriers the said basically that Palm had t
It's just too big.
RE: OK good, now execute
1. It can take a beating from dropping/bumping
2. It's a metal-bodied flip phone
3. Has AMPS (analog) network support for when I am out in the boonies (more often than you'd expect).
4. I've invested too much in v60-style accessories to upgrade until absolutely necessary. I used varying models of StarTacs for years before the v60 came out and I see no need to change that pattern now.
However, in just about every other facet of modern phone feature sets (BT, screen size, IR etc) Motorola continues to fall way behind. That's not to say I would drop my V60 for a camera & BT-enabled T720 refresh-the v60 fits my specific needs perfectly (making phone calls and nothing else). I have a T3 if I want to play games/movies/mp3s/bells'n whistles. However, it'd be nice to have some choices on Verizon as far as phones go. A BT-enabled CDMA phone from the only homegrown company left in the game would be an appealing alternative.
RE: OK good, now execute
BS. SE shot it down in order to calm suspicion from potential p900 buyers. With that new smartphone, you don't want details of a new one with a new OS already leaking and disrupting buyers.
If Nagel was LYING about that, then PalmSource could possibly get sued by SE for potentially disrupting sales. If they really ARE in talks, then it would make sense for SE to say **** to Nagel, but not take any further action until the p1000 with Palm OS 5 Phone Edition is released and p900 and Symbian are put to rest.
-Bosco
NX80v + Wifi + BT + T616
RE: OK good, now execute
http://www.jdpa.com/studies_jdpower/pressrelease.asp?StudyID=692&CatID=1
http://www.jdpa.com/studies/pressrelease.asp?StudyID=749&CatID=1
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2003-11-03-reliablechart.htm
http://www.mercedesproblems.com/
http://www.mercedes-lemon.com/
http://mbspy.bacosys.be/mbquality.htm
"Rebalancing"
This is not some kind of "shift of attention" or "refocus". It is not a move born of strategic intent, it is an action to save money.
Don't try and discern some kind of strategic decision here--there isn't any.
RE:
Pat Horne; www.churchoflivingfaith.com
RE:
I can't help but wonder if now they have to start cutting into the bone to save pennies.
RE: Slash and burn time at pa1mOne
The bone was last year. Now I think they're CHOPPING INTO THE BRAIN!
;-O
It's just too big.
RE:
I can't help but wonder if now they have to start cutting into the bone to save pennies."<
Oh please. You're reading way too much into this. Layoffs nearly *always* happen when two companies merge, because once merged there is a lot of redundancy in the merged staff because you essentially pushed two companies with the same departments together into one company with one of each of those departments instead of two. So naturally, since keeping all that redundancy is needessly expensive, you need to pare down a bit. Thing is, these people knew (or should have known) that layoffs would be coming and everyone in the company should have already had their resumes updated in the even they were one of the "unlucky 100".
Layoffs are never pretty, but business is about making money for the shareholders, and that unfortunately is a passionless endeavor. Having been unemployed recently I can certainly empathize with those who lost their jobs. At the same time if they weren't wise, not bothering to prepare for the possibility when layoffs were an obvious possibility with the merger, I don't have much sympathy there. Hell, I would have had interviews already.
_________________
Sean
Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.
RE:
Investors love layoffs. Investors love offshore outsourcing, too. I don't much care what investors think.
Scott
http://Tapland.com
- Tapwave Zodiac News, Reviews, & Discussion -
I will never want a smartphone
The reality is, cell phones and PDAs serve two separate functions. While there is some overlap, it isn't possible to cash in on that by combining them. Bluetooth is the real answer, not convergence.
A PDA needs a big enough screen to be useful, with LOTS of memory. Hard buttons aren't really necessary, but a few are ok. A cell phone on the other hand needs to be small enough to be handy and unobtrusive. It needs to fit nicely in the hand, small enough to tuck away in a shirt pocket or purse, or strap out of the way on the belt. The screen needn't be any bigger than necessary to show a few lines out of the address book, but just about everyone is going to want real hard buttons for the numbers.
A cell phone the size of a usable PDA is too big a cell phone. A PDA the size of a usable cell phone is too small a PDA. It's rather simple fact, and I wish we could move beyond the ridiculous idea of convergence which ignores this and instead get better Bluetooth adoption between cell phones and PDAs. PalmOne is making a mistake here.
And often, you don't need both. Usually it'll be the case of leaving the PDA at home and just using the cell phone. This is common enough to warrant separate devices. How often do you REALLY need to access your PDA from your cell phone?
The smartphone ranks up there with the combo fax/print/copier units you see everywhere. They attempt to do everything with one unit and market themselves on that appeal, when in reality they do everything poorly and nothing well, a fact the consumer doesn't realize until after the purchase. Yet sales continue, because everything likes the dream, even if it's not a reality.
Palm: instead of making more smartphones, give us a PDA with the form-factor of the m515, the screen of the T3, BT and WiFi, virtual grafitti and no slider (and built like the Tungsten T and not like the E). 64MB is fine, as is 400MHz. The technical/space/power issues are solved by using an OLED screen which doesn't need backlight and is as thin as a sheet of paper, while at the same time using tons less power. Switching from LCD to OLED will give you TONS more space inside that case and tons more juice from the lithium-polymer battery. Ask $500 or even $600 for it if you want, but CREATE IT and make it EXIST... then let the market decide. You might be surprised.
RE: I will never want a smartphone
i don't get all this excitement; smartphones are just too uncomfortable to handle, the only way i see myself getting one is if it had a bt headset which after i am done i can put back into the pda (sort of like a stylus).
RE: I will never want a smartphone
Sign me up! Though, looking at my m505, how could you add all the additional buttons and hardware associated with a POS5+ device (d-pad, record button, speaker, microphone...) and keep this form-factor? It just doesn't mix well.
RE: I will never want a smartphone
RE: I will never want a smartphone
RE: I will never want a smartphone
I am a long time PDA user since the Palm's begining. I got a Treo600 in October. I thought I would hate the 160x160 display, and thought I would never get used to the keyboard. The truth is the screen is OK and keyboard rocks. I can type almost twice as fast as I could ever do Graffiti (I was pretty fast at Graffiti)
This phone does everything my Tungsten T did and does some things a lot better. I'm sold on carrying 1 device. Give me a new version of the Treo with 360x360 Bluetooth and a 1 megapixal camera.
Pilot 1000 -> Pilot 5000 -> Palm Pilot Professional -> HP620LX-> TRG Pro -> Palm V -> Palm Vx -> Palm m505 -> Palm i705 -> Palm TT - Samsung i500 -> Treo 600
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Shift to Smart Phones?
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