Palm announces Q4 earnings -- it's not as bad as you think

Palm continued to flaunt its almost inexplicable boost in health in an earnings call yesterday. According to reports, honcho Ed Colligan boasted of a 29 percent gain in smartphone sales year-over-year, largely in part to the stellar performance of the company's budget-priced (with contract) Centro. In light of the recent negative outlook from investors, retail store closings, a constantly delayed OS update, and fierce competition, it's a pretty impressive feat to not only stay afloat, but manage some small victories. Now if they can just deliver on those OS and device promises we keep hearing about, they may stay in this game yet.

[Via Palm Infocenter]

[Bernhard @ Jun 27th 2008 9:40AM]

Way to go Palm! I guess one advantage of having a Palm device is the fact that you know Palm will not release a new model to frustrate you on your purchase every 2 months. For everything else, there is third-party software.

[JAmerican @ Jun 27th 2008 9:42AM]

This is true now but few years ago, I don't know how true that was especially with the 700w and 700wx.

I can't wait to try the 800w though. Looks like my Dash upgrade has finally come.

[Alvin Brinson @ Jun 28th 2008 11:57PM]

Lol, yes no upgrades to frustrate me.

Still using my Tungsten E (E, not E2) ... and not really any motivation to upgrade... Yeah the TX is nice... but I'd be paying all that extra for wifi I'd hardly use and a bigger screen. Bigger screen is nice, but 320x320 to 320x480 is not worth it for me.

Treo/Centro are not ideal for me because I like to also read ebooks on my Palm. Treo is bulky compared to the base palm, and the Centro's screen is physically smaller despite the same resolution.

Now, if Apple & Samsung and everyone else can make these super-slim touch devices... why can't Palm turn the TX into a phone without bulking it up like a TreoBrick? I'd buy THAT. THAT would be worth an upgrade.

Till then, I'll keep my T|E for PDA stuff, and my Sanyo KATANA for occaisional internet use with Opera Mini and everyday phone purposes.

[Timothy Sottek @ Jun 27th 2008 9:45AM]

Sounds pretty explicable to me.

[TheGasMan @ Jun 27th 2008 12:44PM]

Agreed. Engadget has been grudgingly reporting successful Centro sales for many moons now.

(And if you want to argue semantics, it doesn't make much sense to say "almost inexplicable" and then give a completely logical explanation. But that's another story.)

[Jon Acheson @ Jun 27th 2008 10:03AM]

The problem is, the Centro is a bargain Treo that repackages their existing tech base in a cheap form factor. It is good that it is doing well, as Palm might have gone out of business otherwise, but it is only a short term fix. This is tech that is already past its expiration date.

Palm is still due to release its next-gen OS years late, and 3-6 months after Google's Android. And they've completely alienated their PDA-buying base. They are not out of the woods yet by a long shot.

[Loss Leader @ Jun 27th 2008 10:30AM]

The problem might be, Centro is selling tons but Palm is making almost nothing off each sale AND Palm has massive marketing costs for it which knock that "almost nothing" even lower when everything is summed up - POSSIBLY even into the negative territory.

Selling cheap guarantees lots of sales (that ECON 101 price/supply/demand curve raises its head) but certainly doesn't guarantee lots of money in the corporate pocket - if any.

[Jon Acheson @ Jun 27th 2008 1:03PM]

...And today the news comes out that Palm still took a 43.4 million dollar loss on that quarter. Their fourth consecutive quarter in which they lost money.

Definitely not out of the woods yet. As a Palm PDA user, I am looking for other options in case Palm dies. It's looking more and more likely that my next Palm device will be made by Apple or Nokia.

[Ken @ Jun 27th 2008 10:48AM]

The centro is just $99 but Palm is getting full earnings. That $99 price is due to carrier subsidizing.

[Frank @ Jun 27th 2008 10:52AM]

Where are Fuzion Fuzo and Steffen Jobbs?

Rare they are not bashing in this post and saying "iPhone rocks" or something like that.

[Anthony @ Jun 27th 2008 12:25PM]

N82 rocks.

[zorg @ Jun 27th 2008 11:02AM]

It's Ed Colligan's fault if the iPhone lovers shriek at every post. He's the doof who proclaimed that Apple couldn't him beat him at smartphones because they're too inexperienced and it's just too hard to make a good smartphone.

I agree that the Centro is a good stopgap, but it will not save them and neither will the 800. WM can't save them ever.

Palm made its rep doing EXACTLY what Blackberry and iPhone are doing right now: making it easy on the end user. WM is a ball and chain that will keep them perpetually behind Blackberry and iPhone. Using WM puts them into a feature war with HTC and others. They'll lose that war. They need easy products on a modern OS. By the time they do that, Android may have brought down the hammer.

So, no, don't blame the iPhone fanbois for this one. Palm is getting just desserts from all sides.

[Steve @ Jun 27th 2008 11:14AM]

I still want a Foleo like there's no tomorrow. By now the usefulness of a mini-note for basic word processing/email/web should be not be in dispute. I just want me some instant-on goodness!

But yeah, probably a good idea that they wanted to focus the company on just one OS. The Foleo in its first version would have spread the company too thin.

[Mark Anderson @ Jun 27th 2008 11:50AM]

Perhaps, maybe, could it be that.. gasp... the analysts are talking out of their arses once again?

[OziD @ Jun 27th 2008 12:46PM]

tons of people have centros. shit, i have one.

[Anthony @ Jun 27th 2008 12:29PM]

Too bad Palm couldn't've worked w/ Garmin on their phone. I have to say that my Garmin/Palm combo from years ago was so well integrated & worked so well I've yet to find a competing solution for PDA functionality & routing in a portable, durable package.

Centro aside (it's cute, colorful & even has my wife taking a second look as her blackberry is boring & the Bold doesn't have a release date) their other phones look dated, are gigantic (Centro's big too) & just seem clunky these days.