Comments on: Palm Reports Q4 and FY 2007 Results

Palm IncPalm Inc today reported that total revenue in its fourth quarter of fiscal year 2007, ended June 1, was $401.3 million. Smartphone sell-through for the quarter reached a company record high, totaling 750,000 units, up 43 percent year over year. Smartphone revenue was $344.2 million, up 14 percent from the year-ago period.
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That is to say, they missed REALLY bad on guidance...

SeldomVisitor @ 6/28/2007 4:18:42 PM # Q
...thus explaining the layoffs, huh?

[for those not into stocks, "guidance" is what a company says about how they're gonna do in the future]

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You say potato, I say potahtoe

Poopie @ 6/28/2007 4:51:39 PM # Q
Palm's fourth-quarter profit falls 44%

http://tinyurl.com/yq6as3

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Palm Q4 Results

SeldomVisitor @ 6/28/2007 5:01:04 PM # Q
PALM certainly is being gutted - they're talking (right now) over and over about outsourcing everything Windows, for example, AND they're moving more and more from PalmOS to Windows...


Dumping ballast overboard
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 6/29/2007 10:45:34 PM # Q
PALM certainly is being gutted...

You are correct. Palm is throwing any possible dead weight overboard in an effort to remain afloat long enough to get bought out.

Since my last 2 comments here were deleted yesterday (likely due to Palm telling the Palminfocenter site owner to censor any TVoR posts if he wants to keep seeing any ad revenue from Palm) I'll step back and let things unfold as they will.

I hope they understand that TVoR's message has already gotten through: everyone now realizes that Emperor Palm has no clothes. Jeff Hawkins' embarassing attempt to hype an overpriced, castrated laptop didn't work. Unless Palm delivers a good product from now on they will find themselves being COMPLETELY ignored.

http://sanjose.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2005/07/11/smallb2.html

There is a third business that I've been working on but I'm not going to tell you what it is. It's in mobile computing. It's something different and it's in its early stage. We have three businesses at PalmOne. One you don't even know about, which is just a child. Another is the teenager and the other one is the mature 45-year-old.

I'll give you a couple clues. I always think of mobile computing as personal computing. This long-term vision has led us through everything -- first the organizers and now through the smart phone space. It's like everything a personal computer is. Continue down that path. What are the implications of a world where everyone has a super high-speed Internet connection in their pocket and many gigabytes of storage, super-fast processors, audio, visual and multimedia? What are the consequences of that? How will that change computing when you have all that stuff available to you all the time? I try to think into the future. That's how we come up with new products. So I'm not going to tell you what it is, but it's following the consequences of mobile computing.

- Jeff Hawkins
July 2005


RE: Palm Q4 Results
hkklife @ 6/30/2007 12:06:30 PM # Q
Now, does anyone have ANY idea what happened between when I posted THIS article

http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/9375/register-article-on-palms-diminished-windows-mobile-focus/

and now? Perhaps Palm got so badly spooked by the iPhone spectre that they did a quick about-face on their POS plans? Or perhaps the utter debacle of the 700p has been the final stake (stylus?) in the heart of Garnet in the eyes of the two big domestic CDMA carriers? Or perhaps Verizon has actually decided to take a pass on the 755p and, if Sprint passes on the 800p, that's the end of the line for Garnet in any form (as TVoR hints at). The current rumor is that Verizon has placed a moratorium on any new smartphones for the forseeable future. I am guessing they are going to try to clear stock this summer and hit hard with (maybe) a Treo 800w and the Motorola v9m and a handful of sleek new LG smart & dumbphones this fall.

Changing topics slightly, is it possible that Ed Hardy was privvy to something none of the rest of us were and had some "insider info" before Palm pulled the plug on new PDAs at the 11th hour? http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=12508

Is it possible that Palm has the specs/design of Z22, E2 and TX replacements in the can and have been holding off actually putting them into production out of hope that the Treo line's momentum would continue? How long would it take Palm (assuming the designs are all finalized) to get approval, strike up manufacturing agremeements, and get these things produced, boxed and shipped out? 6 months? 9 months? A year?

Wouldn't it be ironic that Palm would have to field a handful of refreshed "no carrier interference" Palm OS PDAs and a few rebadged WinMob Treos to keep themselves afloat until they can be acquired sometime next year?

Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Palm Q4 Results
SeldomVisitor @ 6/30/2007 12:23:11 PM # Q
> ...until they can be acquired sometime next year

Who would buy what from PALM and for how much?

That's a serious set of questions needing serious answers.

PALM has =dropped= Windows according to PALM - now they will buy from the HTCs of the world and stamp "Palm" on them.

Evidence totally suggests PALM is in the middle of dropping PalmOS - the top guys JUST said (paraphrase):

== "...Giggle...we went from 100% PalmOS to 50%/50% Windows/PalmOs...giggle...
== So, we have obviously seen significant growth in Windows Mobile and we
== expect to continue to see that..."

And, of course, the Fooleo was born dead.

So who's gonna buy what from PALM for how much?

RE: Palm Q4 Results
hkklife @ 6/30/2007 12:34:07 PM # Q
SV;

At the end of the day, SOMEONE will buy Palm if for nothing other than:

1. The Palm/PalmPilot brand/trademark
2. The Treo brand/trademark
3. Palm's wireless carrier agreements
4. Foleo stuff & misc. IP etc

Now, the $30 million question is how much all of the above is worth?



Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: Palm Q4 Results
SeldomVisitor @ 6/30/2007 1:23:33 PM # Q
> ...1. The Palm/PalmPilot brand/trademark...

See below.

> ...2. The Treo brand/trademark...

See below.

> ...3. Palm's wireless carrier agreements...

Worthless - all those who would be interested in PALM already have those - and all evidence of late STRONGLY (yes, strongly) suggests those are DECREASING.

> ...4. Foleo stuff & misc. IP etc...

Giggle.

> the $30 million question is how much all of the above is worth?

Yup, $30 million's about right!

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smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?

Gekko @ 6/28/2007 7:35:04 PM # Q
>Revenue for the full fiscal year 2007 was $1.56 billion, down 1 percent from the $1.58 billion reported in fiscal year 2006. Smartphone sell-through for the full year reached a company record high totaling 2.7 million units, up 34 percent year over year. Smartphone revenue was $1.25 billion, up 15 percent from the prior year.


it looks like the growth in smartphones can't offset the decline in pdas. no wonder the want to "diversify, diversify, diversify". they need another growth engine because the treo alone can't carry the whole load as pda sales/revenue continues to plummet. they must have told hawkins "we need a hat trick" - invent another breakthrough product and he came up with the foleo.



RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
SeldomVisitor @ 6/28/2007 7:45:19 PM # Q
Nah, they didn't tell Hawkins "We need a hat trick" - they told Hawkins "We need a hat trick and that damn laptop is gonna be it whether or not it's ready yet - go to the D conference and start pumping!".

RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
LiveFaith @ 6/28/2007 8:25:22 PM # Q
The numbers say that Palm is growing in unit sales. Good. But, what is bad is that we are in the heyday of a smartfone surge. Palm is only slightly growing sales in the midst of abundance and after having the market headstart. RIM on the other hand ...

Pat Horne
RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
Gekko @ 6/28/2007 8:34:39 PM # Q

"There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else." - Sam Walton



RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
hyperdaz @ 6/28/2007 8:59:16 PM # Q
decline in pda sales... hmm interesting wonder why that is????

Where's the incentive to upgrade.... ??? not had solid PDA releases from palm in years... hence your getting declining sales.....

wow how amazing is that... is Microsoft paying the management at PALM ????? surely SHAREHOLDERS screaming and shouting...... lets outsource the management all of them....

palm customer....



RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
AdamaDBrown @ 6/29/2007 2:13:49 AM # Q
Actually, if you look at the figures, it's the smartphone side where the money problem is. Sales totals are up 43%, but income is only up 14%. Palm is being bitten by the profusion of cheaper smartphone devices like the Blackjack, Dash, Q, etcetera. They can't charge the same large premium for the Treos as they once did, which was what was keeping them in good financial shape. It's not getting any better, either, since they're predicting a possible return to losses next quarter.

RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
Gekko @ 6/29/2007 7:10:42 AM # Q

lower average selling prices and lower gross margins?


RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
hkklife @ 6/29/2007 10:56:29 AM # Q
"Breakthrough" product? More like a back-breaking product if you ask me!

I'm STILL waiting on a ROM update for my 700p. Imagine if you had a Foleo and it worked well with your current smartphone. Your contract expires, you get a new model, and it's not on the list of supported Foleo devices. Uh oh. And with Palm's traditionally glacial release schedule + their staff reductions, how can anyone think they can capably support not only a new OS but a new category/type of product?



Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
SeldomVisitor @ 6/29/2007 11:17:51 AM # Q
With their now-stated orientation of "leveraging ODMs", that is doing nothing themselves other than throwing money at other companies, it wouldn't surprise me at all that they would throw money at other companies for the Fooleo Part III, too.

ASUS Fooleo, anyone?

RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
hkklife @ 6/29/2007 12:12:04 PM # Q
I said AGES ago that one of those Asian ODMs should just buy up Palm for--BINGO!!--a "trusted" brand name and a quick entry into the cliquish American wireless market.

Heck, if nothing else, Palm could become a resurrected "living dead" brand that the cheap Asian ODMs use for their rebranded products--think Westinghouse, Polaroid, Emerson, Sylvania etc etc. Even the Europeans like the hang "respected" names on otherwise unremarkable Philips/Magnavox/RCA/GE stuff nowadays.



Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
SeldomVisitor @ 6/29/2007 12:34:56 PM # Q
I was thinking of a PALM Q....

RE: smartphone growth can't offset pda declines?
hkklife @ 6/29/2007 12:48:06 PM # Q
Just imagine how bad a Palm Q would be in regards to battery life!
I am still astonished at how Apple managed to get good battery life in the iPhone.

Who would've thought an 5-6 months ago that an iPhone would outdo a Palm TX (same screen resulution) in battery runtime?



Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P

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