Comments on: webOS v1.1 Update Released

You'd be crazy, man. Palm's still at the bottom of a very, very long ladder. Nowhere to go but up.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/32111964

Sell Block: Palm's Post-Pre Problems
Posted By:Tom Brennan
Topics:Technology | Stock Market | Stock Picks
Sectors:Telecommunications | Technology
Companies:AT & T Inc | Sprint Nextel Corp | Apple Inc | Palm Inc

It's time to take profits on Palm, Cramer told viewers on Thursday. Investors who want a play on smartphones and the mobile Internet should buy Apple instead.

"Apple's the better company with the better product," the Mad Money host said.

Apple's [AAPL 157.69 0.95 (+0.61%) ] new iPhone 3GS launched barely two weeks after Palm's [PALM 14.139 -0.231 (-1.61%) ] much-hyped Pre and quickly stole the show. It took only three days for Steve Jobs' company to sell a million units. During this week's earnings report, Apple said it couldn't keep up with the demand for the sleek handset. Consumers love the operating system, the iTunes platform and the App store, it seems, making it all but impossible for Palm to measure up.

Official sales numbers for the Pre haven't yet been released, but Barclays said that demand tapered off in July. Complaints are rolling in about both the software platform and the hardware, and Jesup & Lamont put the return rate at as high as 40%. When you factor in that the Pre's carrier, Sprint [S 4.66 -0.12 (-2.51%) ], lacks the marketing muscle of AT&T [T 25.48 0.64 (+2.58%) ], the iPhone's carrier – and marketing is crucial in this business – there seems little reason to continue holding onto Palm. After all, the Pre was supposed to be this company's future, and that future is looking rather dim right now.

With the iPhone, the still-popular iPod and a computer business that is "exceeding expectations despite the slowdown," Cramer said, Apple is the stock to buy. He thinks AAPL could reach $200 in the next few months.

As for Palm, Cramer put that company in the Sell Block.

Gekko wrote:

my investing philosophy since 1995 -

http://money.cnn.com/2001/08/29/investing/Zweig/

Sissy. Short Palm. (Maybe I should post this on Yahoo message boards in order to get SV to do it?)

-Bosco
m105 -> NX70v -> NX80v -> iPhone -> iPhone 3G

Jon Stewart (Who's he? Is he someone I give a flying **** about?) is naive.

Hedge funds spread false rumors about products/companies to drive stock prices any direction they want.

http://tinyurl.com/infamouscramervideo

On the other hand, I would agree with shorting Palm for one reason: they are deliberately picking a fight with Apple. Apple is not afraid to set their lawyers loose and Palm is practically begging for it. Do they have the cash to survive a protracted legal battle? Apple has over $30 billion in the bank.

Palm should grow up and just licence iTunes sync or find a better solution.

The iTunes sync is as much gamesmanship as anything, there does not appear to be a legal route towards stopping Palm, otherwise Apple would have leapt on it already.

I am not sure the Pre will win third place, but I think there is still money to be made, especially because I suspect that at any sign of a major misstep and Palm will be bought out quickly.