Palm Hires Chief Operating Officer, More Cutbacks Expected
Palm Inc. announced today it has hired Todd Bradley, formerly executive vice president of global operations at Gateway Inc., to be executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Solutions Group. In addition, the company said channel sell-through has continued to improve as the company's new line, the m500 series, is selling well in the United States and has just begun selling internationally.
Bradley's appointment is part of the company's actions to solidify Palm's leadership in the mobile computing marketplace and to return to profitability. Key elements of the plan include bolstering the company's management, reducing costs, and aggressively developing innovative products.
"Todd brings a strong track record of accomplishment in high-volume manufacturing, supply-chain management and international business," said Carl Yankowski, Palm chief executive officer. "His hands-on operating style and focus on growth and income drivers will help take Palm's operation to the next level. His experience in Europe and Asia Pacific makes him an excellent choice to manage geographically dispersed sites, and his experience and acumen in creating content-driven businesses with recurring revenue streams is a good match for Palm's vision."
Bradley, 42, brings many years of senior-management experience in consumer products and consumer services to Palm. At Gateway, he was responsible for its multibillion-dollar consumer business. During his three years there, Bradley streamlined business and manufacturing processes and implemented the Six Sigma process. He also held executive positions at GE Capital Corp., Dunn and Bradstreet Corp., and Federal Express Corp.
Bradley replaces Satjiv Chahil, who was appointed interim head of the Solutions Group in March in addition to his duties as chief marketing officer. Under his leadership, Chahil, who has extensive experience running consumer and enterprise businesses, instituted a number of operational improvements. Chahil will return full-time to his role as chief marketing officer, where he will focus additionally on driving new marketing alliances and content relationships that take advantage of the company's Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard media expansion choice.
"I'm delighted to join the leader in handheld computing," Bradley said. "With a winning brand, compelling vision, the industry's most expandable handhelds and the strength of the Palm Economy, I'm confident Palm will be able to reach its goals. I intend to build on the new focus, efficiencies and momentum Carl, Satjiv and their teams have put in place."
Palm gained share in the U.S. retail marketplace, according to the latest weekly report published by NPD Intellect. Since the m500 series became available at retail stores, NPD's weekly surveys show that the company's market share rose from 60 percent to 67 percent and that the new products accounted for 24 percent of all Palm(TM) handheld sales.
"We've worked to improve our execution on engineering to manufacturing and logistics. And despite the soft market, our efforts are beginning to show results," said Yankowski. "We're encouraged by the popularity of our new products and the uptick in retail sales of our existing products as well. We're pleased with customers' response to our marketing and sales-incentive programs introduced over the last two months, and we're gratified by the report of share growth as we complete this significant product transition."
Palm also said it will make additional reductions in its work force in the first fiscal quarter of 2002 to bring its cost structure closer in line with business conditions. Last month, Palm reduced its work force by a total of about 300 regular and contract workers. The company expects to provide more information about its work-force reduction when it announces fourth-quarter 2001 results the week of June 25.
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Hmmmm Gateway...oh yeah...
What an idiotic approach to selling. That was one store I'd never go back to...I suppose my next Palm will come in a cow patty box too.
RE: Hmmmm Gateway...oh yeah...
Great, just plain frickin great.
RE: Great, just plain frickin great.
RE: Great, just plain frickin great.
Another sign that Palm is about to go belly up
Sony, your opportunity to take Palm over will soon come.
RE: Another sign that Palm is about to go belly up
Simple Stock/Company Valuation Lesson
RE: Another sign that Palm is about to go belly up
Given the stock volatility, I would recommend staying far way from Palm, even at $2. You might end up having penny stock by the end of the year.
RE: Another sign that Palm is about to go belly up
La-hu-Tser!!!!!!!!!!
RE: La-hu-Tser!!!!!!!!!!
RE: La-hu-Tser!!!!!!!!!!
Six Sigma ?? @#$%@#$%
Saddling a struggling company with Six Sigma bloat isn't something to brag about. This is indeed bad.
Bunch of whiners
Thinking back over the time that I have owned a Palm and been a frequent visitor to these types of sites, I have come to the conclusion that the release of any new Palm device (from any company) is like a rallying call for all of the whining, no-life geeks to run to the nearest internet connection and inflict useless self-aggrandizing commentary on the world.
I remember when the Palm V first came out and the whining and complaining that went on then. The buttons on the device were all wrong, the backlight was terrible, 2MB was not enough memory, using a fixed rechargeable battery was a big mistake, the screen was too small. The IIIc came out and the whiners said the color was terrible, the screen was too pixelated and too bright. The VII was released and the whiners cried, it does not allow full access to the web, web clipping was not viable, the device was to big, etc. The m100 was released and the whiners screamed, the device is ugly, it does not innovate and it is a step backwards for the platform. And each of these was going to be the swan song of the company.
As to Handspring, the whining that went on when it came out was of near legendary proportions. The launch was terrible, the customer service was terrible, the product was terrible, springboards are too expensive and a device with a proprietary expansion technology was a mistake and the company was dead in the water. The Prism was released and the whiners declared, it is a brick, it is pixelated, what was Handspring thinking. The edge is released and the whiners say it is too little, too late, it will never sell, it has no appeal and becomes to bulky with the springboard slot attached thus the audience it was built for will not buy it.
As my post is getting over long, I will just say that TRG and Sony have been the subject similar whining.
Amazingly, time cures all whining. The m100/105 sold like the dickens, the Palm V/Vx is the most popular Palm device ever, Handspring is still moving along, Sony has learned and added no features to their device line and TRG/HandEra continues to pushed the platform forward.
It seems to me that there is now such a wide variety of Palm devices on the market that there is one to appeal to every taste. So please do us all a favor, quit the whining and just enjoy the fact that the Palm platform continues to grow.
As to Palm's current problems, we know what growth is often accompanied by pain. As the "palm economy" grows, the keeper of the light, as it were, will have to make some changes and adapt. And not surprisingly, each new announcement of the efforts being made to adapt and change and respond to missteps is met with whining and negative commentary.
Will Palm ever be able to do anything to quiet the whiners, the naysayers and the forecasters of doom, I doubt it. It certainly appears, from were I sit, that Palm (or any of the licensees) can do nothing to make you folks happy.
RE: Bunch of whiners
RE: Bunch of whiners
devices or are you doing that already?
RE: Bunch of whiners
RE: Bunch of whiners
HOWEVER... in my opinion, the m500 and especially the m505 is not the case. Yes, the expectation of the m505 was high, but the negativity generated towards the m505 was far beyond simple failed expectation. The negative responses far, far, outweigh the positive responses. These criticisms are simply people "whining", these were legitimate complaints.
Most of the criticisms were centered on the poor quality of the screen, but it goes beyond that. Many people are criticizing that overall, Palm lacked innovation!!! Most if not all of the m500's and m505's features were lifted from Palm licensees. For example, 16-bit color was from Handspring and the SD slot technology was from SONY.
Now with the release of the HandEra and SONY Clie, people are realizing how much better the Palm OS can be. Compare with the Clie, the m505 is simply not worth the price. Now before, you people go on how sleek and small the m505 is, just realize that the Clie is only .16" thicker. That's roughly a stack of 15 notecards. If you think that's enoungh to justify giving up all the additional features of the Clie for the m505, you should go look at how thick 15 notecards are again.
Basically, people do not want to pay the price of a steak and only get a Big MAC.
RE: Bunch of whiners
Still love the Vx form factor
RE: Bunch of whiners
RE: Bunch of whiners
We are not whining, we are simply holding Palm accountable.
RE: Bunch of whiners
RE: Bunch of whiners
RE: Bunch of whiners
I had not intended on posting any further comment until I got to the comment that used the words "idiot" and "schmuck" to describe me. This individual has chosen (probably unintentionally) to illustrate my point far more eloquently than my original post could. Under any circumstances could this be considered useful information worthy of being shared with the community that this site has worked so hard to cultivate?
In my original post I sought to refrain from stating my personal preference of Palm device as I thought it was irrelevant to the issue I was attempting to address. But now, (since I am here anyway) I would like to add my two cents to the comments that have followed.
I own a Palm m505 and am very happy with it. I am familiar with all of the other Palm devices and the one that I prefer is the m505. Granted, I have not seen the new Clie but its additional features hold no allure for me. For my money, the m505 has the best combination of features to suit my needs. I am an attorney (I just know I am going to regret saying that) and have to wear a business suit every work day and prefer to carry my Palm in the inner breast pocket of my suit. As a result, the form of the Palm V was perfect for me. I decided that I was not going to upgrade until there was a Palm device that offered color and had additional storage in the Palm V form factor. The m505 fits the bill. It works for me and I love the device. In my opinion the screen is definitely better than the screen on the Palm V I was using just a few weeks ago and is useable under a much wider variety of lighting conditions. And I have got to tell you, that every geek and non-geek that sees the thing it action is amazed and impressed. Is the screen the best color screen on the market today in a handheld, probably not, and I don't care. The device does what I need it to do. My only real disappointment is that the implementation of the expansion slot is not seamless but I remain confident that once the developer community gets into supporting it this issue will be minimized if not completely resolved. It may take some time, the same way it took some time for developers to support color. I can be patient and remarkably, the programs have already started to come out, so maybe I won't have to be too patient.
Ultimately, my needs may be different from your needs and a different Palm device may be in order for you. To each his own. From were I sit, the Palm market is better because there is more choice and variety amongst the devices. Palm, the company, is taking one approach to advancing the platform, Sony another, Handspring another, HandEra another and Symbol yet another. Each one gives us the ability to chose the device that runs the Palm OS that suits use. To me that can't possibly be a bad thing. Would you rather return to the days when the only Palm device available was the Pilot 1000?
Oh, and please stay passionate, I know that I will.
RE: Bunch of whiners
RE: Bunch of whiners
if you ask: have you actually seen the screen? and have a hands on experiance even for a short period?
the answer is always, ALWAYS,.. no.
My observation has been true so far.
RE: Bunch of whiners
Who's Todd Bradley?!?!?
Great!
It's amazing to read some of the responses of people who are still bitching about the m505's screen.
Look guys, every pda has tradeoffs...the clie has a great display, can play mp3's, higher resolution, but it's only 256 colors (and it supports the memory stick).
the m505 supports 65,000 colors, but it's low res, and a slim form factor, and it's supporting SD/MMC cards.
For me, looking at all of the features of the available palm os pdas, I prefer the the m505. I own one and I don't regret my purchase for a minute - I also own a prism which has been relegated to being a doorstop...
i think the clie, and the handera unit, are great and they're highlighting features we'll see in future palm pda's.
Rather than bitching, look at the positive - we have a choice wrt which PALM OS PDA we purchase. This diversification is only going to help the PDA market grow...
RE: Great! BUT WAIT!!!
>resolution, but it's only 256 colors (and it supports
>the memory stick).
The limits of the 256 color is the software, the Palm OS 3.5. The Clie has a separate graphic controller chip, the MediaQ (MQ-1100) chip that will support 320x320 resolution and 16-bit colors. Therefore, once SONY release their Palm OS 4.0 which supports 16-color, the Clie will have 320x320 resolution and 16-bit color display!!! How nice is that?
Yeah, the Clie supports the memory stick, and so will the next Motorola ARM processors!!!
So what else can you justify getting the m505 for? The form-factor? Please!!! That argument is getting too old, the Clie is only 0.16 inches thicker than the m505. I can't see any justification for giving up everything that the Clie provides for 0.16 inches!!!
Another note...people are saying that they love the Palm V form factor, well you know that the m505 is actually 0.10 inches THICKER than the original Palm V. I don't hear people complaining about that!!!
RE: Great!
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