palmOne 4Q Conference Call Highlights

palmOne just announced their most recent financial results for the 4Q of fiscal 2004. The company also holds a conference call which explains the numbers and brings out additional details and industry trends.

palmOne FY Q4 2004 Results

Conference Call Highlights
Highlights from palmOne CEO, Todd Bradley's comments:

• The company is now "solidly profitable" and they have an outlook of accelerated growth and sustained profitability going forward.
• FY Q4 2004 Net Income was $13.3 million, or $0.27 a share. This compares to a net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2003 of $15.0 million or $0.51 per share and net loss for the third quarter of fiscal year 2004 of $9.3 million or $0.20 per share.
• Two key trends are now emerging in the handheld industry. 1) the emerging ubiquity of high speed wireless networks and 2) the vast and rapidly growing amount of digital and portable content.
• palmOne is developing a family of smartphones
• palmOne is the only smartphone company able to capitalize on converting a large base of existing users and customers from PDAs to Smartphones
• The company announced 2 new GPS bundles this quarter. GPS is extremely popular in europe and is poised to grow in the US. 45 thousand palmOne handheld and GPS bundles were sold in Europe last quarter.
• palmOne's handheld market-share is now 60% in the US and 40% in Europe
• Email is the key application driving Treo smartphone growth and sales
• 1400 enterprise companies have currently deployed the GoodLink solution on Treo 600 devices
• The company has taken steps to secure new component suppliers for the Treo 600
• Handhelds and Smartphone divisions have now been consolidated under Ed Colligan
• Demand for the Treo 600 remains strong, and continues to outpace supply
• palmOne is working to exploit the opportunity made by Sony's withdraw from the market.

Comments from Interim CFO, Phillippe Morali:

• The company achieved or exceeded all key financial goals in Q4
• Handhelds accounted for $192 million in revenue on 956 million units sold
• The Tungsten E was the largest seller in the US, followed by the Zire 72 and the Zire 31
• Smartphones accounted for $75.4 million of revenue, 151,000 Treo 600 units were sold and demand continues to outpace supply
• 60% of all Treo sales were in the US
• palmOne expects to sell between 250-260 thousand Treos during the next quarter.
• Currently, handhelds make up 72% of revenue, while smartphones account for 28%. palmOne expects that figure to change to a 50-50 split in FY 2005