Palm's Stock Gets a Boost from Verizon and Future Prospects
Businessweek has posted an interesting new article about Palm that, while retreading some old ground, manages to offer a few interesting new tidbits regarding the company's battles to maintain and gain market share. Palm has struggled somewhat against a slew of competitors, Apple and RIM chiefly, but the popular new entry-level Centro smartphone continues its momentum after nearly nine months on the market. The Centro's arrival Verizon Wireless now offers Palm another strong outlet for the CDMA version of their market's most affordable touchscreen smartphone.
The most interesting new factoid to be gleaned from the Businessweek piece is a quote from Lehman Brothers analyst Jeffrey Kvaal. Kvaal states that Sprint, long Palm's primary carrier of choice for new smartphone introductions, has Centro demand that "remains healthy". However, sales of the slower GSM/EDGE version of the Centro on AT&T Wireless' network are only "mediocre". This can likely be attributed to the inherent data speed shortcomings of the Garnet OS on GSM networks, as well as the presence of several strong competing devices on the AT&T network. While the new entry-level Centro smartphone is not marketed as an iPhone killer for Palm, the presence of competing devices such as Apple's iPhone and several RIM BlackBerry models on the AT&T network does make the Centro pale somewhat in comparison.
Another interesting fact according to Kvaal is that recent sales of Palm's higher-margin Treo handsets are "fading" as customers flock to the more affordable but essentially identical Centro instead of the higher-priced Treos. Unfortunately, these claims are unsubstantiated and not backed up with solid sales numbers or carrier breakdowns but earlier rumors have suggested similar residual side effects of the Centro's success.
The final piece of interest in the Businessweek article to Palm-watchers is an intriguing hint from Kvaal that briefly discusses future Palm product launches in the later part of the year. Kvaal suggest that the release of "at least two new Treo models", presumably on Verizon Wireless in this case but also rumored for Sprint, will bolster the company's fortunes in future quarters. No mention is made of the company's efforts to develop their Nova in-house OS nor is any distinction made between Windows Mobile-powered products and any future models running the Garnet OS that may be in the pipeline.
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RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
instant carrier relationships and product and pipeline and expertise and patents? let's say a company like Dell wants to get into the phone business. buying Palm gets them in the phone business instantly without having to build carrier relationships from scratch. unlike a widget that you can just sell, a phone must be sold through the carriers. i'm not saying it'd be smart for Dell or anyone else to buy Palm, but just giving a reason why they might. stranger things have happened. look at AOL-TWX.
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
It's called "ACCESS Systems Americas, Inc." and has been for a good while now... It wouldn't take much research to determine that, actually.
...would probably be a LOT cheaper than Palm and I'd bet Access would be happy to part with it (giggle).
How much, and at what odds? I only ask since it's a certainty that you'd lose that bet. (And why do you giggle so much...? Are you huffing nitrous or something...? That'd explain some of these postings, certainly...)
So...why not? Why not (try to) buy PalmSource rather than Palm if, for some bizarro reason. one wants to buy a Linux implementation for phones rather than use what's already very much out there via LiMo and Android?
Well, I'd guess that the first big "why not?" would have to be that "It's not for sale."
You don't seem to understand very much about LiMo-of which ACCESS is, of course, a core member, and where code is being used, and is made available under differing terms, depending on whether one is a member or not-nor about Android, which isn't "out there" in any realistic sense from the point of view of a device manufacturer...
BTW - this IS a serious question - if one IS a company buyer I certainly hope said company buyer is examining ALL options...
Buying our organization isn't one of them, Sorry For The Inconvenience.
(And as long as we're here, where is that posting I'm supposed to have made which "suggested" to you that I'd somehow become "an hourly contractor"...? I'd been suspecting extremely wishful thinking, at best, but now I'm starting to wonder whether it isn't perhaps outright hallucination...)
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
I just did. Just a slightly different type of "search engine". Worked well.
> ..."It's not for sale."...
I didn't realize PR-guys had such intimate access to the top guys and their decision making.
==========
W.r.t. carrier relationships I don't think THAT is worth, say, half a billion dollars or whatever the difference between Palm and ASA,inc. would be in cost.
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
Access can buy Palm!
That would make sense in the context of Access buying PalmSource.
(...)
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
No luck on coming up with that supposed posting of mine, I see. I guess you fantasized it, or something.
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
(And why do you giggle so much...? Are you huffing nitrous or something...? That'd explain some of these postings, certainly...)
I'll field that one, if I may: it's an (incredibly) irritating device he uses to imply that what he's posted would be oh so amusing, if only you had the same brilliant insight into the world of technology & high finance as does he. Convenient, that: makes (uninformed) people think you're a lot cleverer than you actually are.
Nitrous is generous. I'd be betting on something a lot stronger.
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
It doesn't have that effect on me. It just makes me think of Dwight Frye as "Renfield" in the 1931 version of Dracula...
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
However, the comparison does falter a little when you consider Renfield at least started out sane...
RE: Can anyone think of a good reason why...
What future prospects?
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com/2008/06/16/a-gadget-too-far/
Centro: The Disposable Smartphone.
RE: What future prospects?
Don't most disposable gadgets have their batteries hidden away inside where the user can't replace them ;-) Also, won't the iphone screen end up looking worse then your trashed LifeDrive screen because who would put a screen protector on that pretty little iphone? Second thought, the screen might hold up well cuz there are so few apps to run on the thing.
Gary
(BTW: Talestuff.com is down till the 1st of July, Earthlink only gives me 1gb/month. I can always be reached directly... gmayhak@aol.com )
Tech Center Labs
RE: What future prospects?
RE: What future prospects?
If I want to listen to music/videos I use my iPod.
If I want to make a phone call I use a cell phone.
If I want to do organizational tasks, read/write documents, view pictures, keep a database, make a quick note, keep an informative contacts list and datebook, read an ebook, keep a journal, or play a game (all of which I do on a daily basis) I use a PDA.
Now you can say "Hey, but you can do most of those things with one device", but like bhartman34 just said, smartphones really aren't optimized to be PDA's. They are first and foremost cell phones with the ability to do PDA work. The problem is the screen on a device like the Centro is too tiny for most types of PDA uses. Add to that the taking away of the stylus and it further hampers it's use as a PDA. Require a contract and data plan and you've lost me, because I'm buying a PDA not a phone.
Therein lies the problem with converged devices. Steve Jobs is right to not want the iPod Touch called a PDA and those who say the PDA is dead are wrong because there is not a equivalent device to do what a PDA is/was meant to do.
The last known classic PDA user.
RE: What future prospects?
Now you can say "Hey, but you can do most of those things with one device", but like bhartman34 just said, smartphones really aren't optimized to be PDA's.
Well, to be fair, I said iPhones aren't really meant to be PDAs. I think an iPhone could be a decent PDA, if Apple exposed more of the iPhone's functions through the SDK. If third party developers can't write something as basic as an alarm (because they can't get access to the calendar functions), it won't ever be a decent PDA.
But that's not to say that all phones are awful PDAs. Granted, you have to have pretty good eyesight to use a Centro that way, but once you get over that hurdle, there's not much you can't do with a Centro that you could do with a TX. (One big exception I can think of is e-books. While it's technically still possible to read an e-book on a Centro, I have no idea why you'd want to.) I've used my Centro for things like shopping lists, checking e-mail over the Web, adding things to my calendar, and storing passwords. It's not the big, beautiful experience a TX would be, and it's certainly not as elegant a device as an iPhone, but if you need a phone and a PDA, and you can only carry one thing, you could certainly do worse than a Centro.
But then, you'll notice that I didn't mention multimedia in there. I've taken the occasional picture with my Centro, and even a short video clip, but they both generally come out crappy. And while you can certainly play Tetris or Bejeweled, you're not going to play Quake on a Centro (let alone anything more modern). Music is about the only thing a Centro will do decently, in terms of multimedia, but even there, it's not optimized for it. While the music is easy to play, you've got to have the special headphones to listen to it, or else deal with a ridiculously-tinny speaker.
So my point is, iPhone and Centro/Treos are two entirely different versions of convergence:
iPhone = Phone + Multimedia
Centro = Phone + PDA
The iPhone is in a better position to become a PDA than the Centro is to become a music/video powerhouse, but from the looks of things, I think Jobs has made the (reasonable) bet that most of the world doesn't hold PDA functionality in high regard. As I've pointed out before, the PDA market had started to hit the skids even before the TX or LifeDrive hit the scene. (Recall that Handspring had released the first Treos by 2002.)
What I'm trying to say is, if Palm were to release a TX-sized smartphone with the normal Palm functions, I don't think it would be a big seller. Sure, some people would buy it, but not enough to help Palm, I think. That's why I thought the Foleo could be a good move, if they'd done it right: They could keep selling Centro/Treo-sized phones, but also sell Foleos to people who wanted the big screen and keyboard to match. Unfortunately, they bungled it on the pricing. If they come back with a Foleo II, hopefully the pricing will be more realistic.
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Can anyone think of a good reason why...
And, I think, PalmSource (what DO you call it now!?) would probably be a LOT cheaper than Palm and I'd bet Access would be happy to part with it (giggle).
So...why not? Why not (try to) buy PalmSource rather than Palm if, for some bizarro reason. one wants to buy a Linux implementation for phones rather than use what's already very much out there via LiMo and Android?
BTW - this IS a serious question - if one IS a company buyer I certainly hope said company buyer is examining ALL options...