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    How Palm's Treo CapitalizedPosted By: Ryan on Thursday, March 23, 2006 9:40:29 AM
The Wall Street Journal has a new article about Palm Inc today. The article looks at how Palm has "capitalized" on the BlackBerry patent drama. It cites examples of how current and potential RIM customers are now considering Treo smartphones. It also looks at the competition between Palm and RIM and includes quotes from the two CEOs, Ed Colligan and Jim Balsillie.
The Treo is catching up to the BlackBerry by some measures. BlackBerrys currently outsell Treos by two to one, but analysts say many BlackBerrys go to existing customers who are upgrading from old devices. Meanwhile, the Treo, which is still too new for many upgrades, is sold primarily to new customers. [...] In the quarter ended in late November, Palm sold 602,000 Treos, nearing the 645,000 new subscriber accounts that RIM signed on in the same period. Internally, Palm executives say they believe that the Treo will outsell BlackBerrys by the end of this year.
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6 total comments The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. PIC is not responsible for them in any way. login or register for free in order to post comments.  RE: Palm not dead yet!
Palm is about devices, not OS currently. I find it shocking that their volume of enquirers and number of sales leads were so low. 600 is really unimpressive. It seems they mostly got a bit of PR from the RIM drama, but very little new business. And it has been very boring recently. Surur RE: Palm not dead yet!
check back in here around 2:15 PST today for some entertaining discussions :) RE: Palm not dead yet!
Q3 2006 Palm, Inc. Earnings Conference Call Thursday, March 23, 2006 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT (that's an easy one)
RE: Palm not dead yet!
No matter what, all lively discussion & Palm earnings are tied into the release of new product. Palm could at least have made something like a very strong hint or suggestion of new POS product forthcoming. Now the presence of the carriers makes this eve more of a nail biter. You have to worry not only about Palm releasing a new POS Treo but if your carrier of choice is going to cary it..and if SO then WHEN? Example: Verizon has far & away the best coverage everywhere near where I live & work. Yet they may not release the 700p at all. And my current cell phone is fading fast. When my contract is up in Aug/Sept can I be assured that a 700p will be available on Verizon or not? More than anything else (lack of Cobalt, lack of EVDO, lack of wi-fi) Palm's glacial release schedule and the constantly churning waters of the competing carriers trying to one-up each other will discourage many users and/or force abandonment of the OS/brand.
Assuming that a fork has already been stuck in the moribund PDA line by Palm, the press, and the market in general, that makes for one new Treo (available on a single carrier so far) in the past 18 months. All of calendar year '05 passed without a single new Treo device of any kind. I think Palm may be kicking themselves right now for the Verizon exclusivity period. Imagine how many 700w's they could have sold had they just had it available on Sprint & Verizon during the "RIM Drama" period the article mentions. Otherwise, I am sure Palm & Verizon got lots & lots of looks/web site hits but not as many actual sales. Sometime later tis year I'd love to see sell-through numbers on the 700w its first 6 months of life vs. the first six months of the 650's existence. Or, to keep things totally fair, the 700W's first 6 months with Verizon vs. the 650's first six months on Sprint (Oct '04-April '05). 
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Some good news. Maybe it will breathe some life into the OS. Maybe we won't have to run Palm OS legacy apps on our teeny little DoCoMo phones (or Treo 900w?) next year. Where the heck is the Hollywood?