Remember that wild January day a bit over a year ago, when Palm debuted webOS and
shares went wild? Well, after months of setbacks in the sales arena, and a rough
$22 million Q3 loss announced yesterday, Palm's stocks took over a 25 percent dive today, dipping below $5 for the first time since the Pre was announced. At the time of this writing things seem to be leveling off a bit, but it's the most damage the shares have seen since October of 2009. Morgan Joseph analyst Ilya Grozovsky has downgraded the stock to "sell" and set a target price at $0. Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek has set a similar target, saying that he sees a "complete lack of earnings visibility." So, candlelit vigil time? Imminent buyout? Riots in the streets? Hardly. Palm's own Jon Rubinstein said in the earnings announcement that the company is "looking forward to upcoming launches with new carrier partners" which should (hopefully) brighten spirits a bit, and we haven't heard a single credible buyout rumor, despite plenty of wild conjecture. There are also still a pair of analyst hold outs (just two, to be exact) that have buy ratings on the stock, reports
Thomson Reuters. As for rioting? Well, that's up to you. No matter what, Palm has some serious soul searching to do.
posted March 19th 2010 2:59PM
Or buy low, sell lower and regret buying in the first place.
I think palm has proven that
exclusivity + sprint = fail
@OMJ More like exclusivity with the only provider that is losing customers = fail.
although I hate to say it but they're gonna have to jump into the Android band wagon, they'll be fine after that considering the hype android has received lately even though the nexus one failed but i think that was more of a marketing and sales strategy problem. a palm with android and a better designed pre/pixi then come out with a touchscreen only maybe is all they need to become successful.
@lav1daloca How does doing Android will change anything? It will only alienate current Palm customers even more.
@lav1daloca Then they wouldn't be palm anymore. They would be yet another android brick phone making company... boring.
Palm finally tosses out their old OS and brings out something stellar and forward thinking and they end up getting some tough luck with the timing of the Android and then all these ANALysts writing things based on rumors.
Palm, if you release a new high end smartphone with an AMOLED screen, hardware keyboard keyboard with a QWERTY slider that slides out in the profile, and you slap webOS on that sucker to run it on a Snapdragon. I will buy that phone in a fucking instant, and maybe even some stock.
Just don't die on me Palm. DON'T DIE ON ME!
I say we vote down any of the comments that include "Sprint" and "Creepy commercials". I mean really? That's so 2009.
Rubinstein needs to go, PALM needs to get some money from angel investors, needs to kill the Pixi(now!), needs next gen Pre,needs a tablet, and most def they need a better app platform.
I have to say that I feel bad for the middle/lower level workers at Palm.
The leadership team has constantly involved top level prats, who waxed lyrical about Palm with little substance or action. Ed and now Jon Rubenstein, as far as I'm concerned have done little to stabilize the good ship Palm. I just don’t think Jon is the right man for the job. The management team have a problem see, they have the ego’s of say Apple’s top brass, which is all fine and dandy except they’re crap and have no right to think so much of themselves.
They constantly keep making mistake after mistake and it’s hurting Palm, it’s investors and damaging the reputation of the brand. The marketing for the Pre was extremely week and seemed like the sort of thing Sony would have rejected in the bad days of PS3 adverts. They weren't in a position to do weird or high concept, they should have gone grass roots with some decent viral work and shown potential customers what it was all about. Ohhh a crazy mute ginger....that reminds me I need a smartphone-jeez!
In the UK here on O2 the Pre adverts were aired only 27 times, one of the shortest runs ever. It all stinks of a company running out of money and people were aware of this.
Jon Rubenstein has allowed them to be focused in the wrong places, imagine how much time and effort was wasted trying to keep itunes synch working. Pointless and a mis-step in my eyes in the first place. It alright being the under-dog, but you have to maintain liquidity...Surely instead of leeching a feature from a competitor, would it not have been a better idea to ensure that the slide mechanism could stand up to lifecycle of a phone contract.
However the biggest stinker here, which is totally unforgivable is the fact that they almost ordered 50% more inventory than they could sell. Thats not 10 or 25% but a whopping 50% (Estimated at around 450-500,000 phones). They've now got all this old stock of handsets, no-one wants and even with aggressive discounting will reap little to no cash back into the business. They can't even give the Pre and Pixi away!
I'm sorry but Palm is on death watch here, as a public traded company everyones just going to start running. Again, it's a damn shame because WebOs has a lot of promise, the Pre was an exciting product along with it’s induction charger but they failed to capitalise interest. They need better management and someone with a high level of vision along with good product delivery experience. Jon Rubenstein should bow his head, he's let a lot of people down....what ever next...The Folio Plus.....oh god!
I wonder whether Verizon wasn't a little miffed that Palm chose to give the exclusive to Sprint instead of going with them first. I mean, really, what was that "Droid is for Boys and Pre is for Girls" campaign about? It certainly must've given pause to at least a few guys... could it have been an intentional kick in the knee-caps? It certainly didn't help.
@bengregg
Perhaps Verizon wasn't interested in the Pre until after it generated buzz at CES. By then Sprint had already grabbed the exclusive.
I dont think john r. is gonna let this company go down like this.
Its really time to let go people.... I mean they'll be bought out eventually.
If Palm can get the telcos to allow a cheaper all inclusive plan then they could have a chance. There needs to be something cheaper than $80 bucks a month for a smart phone.
Does WebOS remind anyone else of the Amiga?
good times, good times.
@Mister Warmth The Amiga was the best computer but Commodore's bad marketing destroyed it. The Amiga was the first real 'Personal' computer.
Palm needs more hardware choices. They should license WebOS to HTC if they want to stand a chance of surviving..
I am writing all these on my Palm Pre, a really great device...
Google should buy Palm
Please Nokia buy them!
I really wanna see WebOS live. Thought Nokia got Symbian for mid end and MeeGo already for high end.
Google wouldn't do nothing with Palm as Palm isn't a manufacturer like Nokia and Samsung that actually got their own factories all over the world and Google got the soft side already done.
I guess somebody totally new to cell phone business might be interested.
Fools, fools. like everyone here it was obvious that CDMA on Sprint was a disaster.
I would have bought an unlocked GSM one if they'd prioritized that.
it was plainy and simply an idiotic decision
I was a long time Palm Treo user. gave up 2 months ago and switched to Nexus One. very happy.
sad for palm, but bad management decisions in the last 12 months made this inevitable...
real shame if they don't make it. I've had mine for a little less than a month.
If they got their shit together and actually sold the phones without all the fuss they might not be in this boat right now. Still no Australia release how bloody long has this phone been out now?
God damn it Palm! Think!! this is a Marketing world! You have all the pieces just put em in f@ckin' order! Brain wash those idiots that buy a new ipod/iphone everytime Apple adds a new feature.
wow i love my pre thanks palm
A lot of comments about CDMA and the Sprint exclusive. As far as we know Sprint could have been the only company initially interested in the Pre or possibly the one that presented Palm with the best offer.
So lets say Palm chose a GSM version for the initial US launch. Do you think Pre sales would have been better? I doubt it, they may have actually been worse. T-Mobile and AT&T are the major GSM carriers. T-Mobile is the smallest of the major carriers and not to mention they don’t use a standard 3G band. As far as an AT&T exclusive was concerned the Pre wouldn’t have had a chance next to the iPhone. Face it, whether you like it or not the iPhone has mindshare and marketing like no other. I couldn’t see AT&T throwing a lot of marketing behind the Pre. Sprint was a sweet spot at number 3. It’s too bad that the lack of a decent marketing campaign and shoddy build quality put a damper on the launch. I haven’t had any issues with my Pre since I got it in June. A few of my friends were not as fortunate. Some of them have exchanged their phones 6 times already. That’s ridiculous!
When it comes to buying unlocked phones in the US, I think those who are willing to pay full price are in the minority. It’s true an unlocked version may have help with some overseas sales. There has to be some reason that they have yet to release it. Perhaps they don’t have the money or manpower to support a large unlocked user base without the help of the carrier support channels.
At the end of the day it’s all conjecture. We can talk all night about what Palm shouldn’t or should have done. I’m sure Palm had a strategic plan. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be too successful. Hindsight is always 20/20. Hopefully their next device launch will be more promising because WebOS has a lot of potential.
Bad marketing, poor build quality, and lack of apps hurt Palm far more than the Sprint exclusivity.
Sounds like i better go buy a couple of "unlocked" Palm Pre Plus Phones from palms developer sight and store them away so i can still have a worthy phone in 2 years. PALM! DO NOT GO AWAY PLEASE! Or if you do then show us how to install webOS on the iPhone 3GS. That would be totally awesome if you would. I mean Dam Awesome
Well one thing that Palm is doing wrong is the fact that the webOS hasn't been introduced to the international community... or as it? Well, it hasn't in Australia.
It's like the Zune HD, if they released it internationally then their sales would obviously sore but Palm is sticking to the US market is failing because of that.
Palm. You will be missed.