Palm Makes a Slew of Enterprise-Related Announcements

Posted By: Ed Tuesday, June 26, 2001 1:17:01 PM

During his keynote address at TECHXNY this morning, Palm CEO Carl Yankowski announced numerous new agreements designed to increase Palm's presence at large companies.

They are going to work harder with Panasonic to increase acceptance of the Secure Digital (SD) memory and Input/Output (SDIO) card standards in the enterprise and with consumers. This will include both joint advertising and encouraging developers to create applications that large companies need that use SD technology.

PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest professional services organization, has agreed to begin marketing Palm handhelds to its clients. The two companies have signed a global alliance agreement to work together to help businesses incorporate Palm handhelds into their systems. They plan help companies quickly give mobile capabilities to existing enterprise systems.

Palm and Extended Systems announced that they have signed a Letter of Intent for Palm to resell Extended Systems' XTNDConnect Server Software as a Palm branded product by the fourth quarter of this year.

XTNDConnect Server allows handhelds to access any corporate information that resides on Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, and ODBC-compliant database servers. This includes Palm Powered handhelds, as well as Windows CE/Pocket PC and EPOC (Psion) mobile devices.

Palm tried to buy Extended Systems outright but had to call off the deal after Palm's stock price dropped this spring.

These announcements come on a make-or-break day for Palm. They also have a conference call scheduled for 5 pm EST today where they will report their fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Palm is expected to report a loss of $170 to $190 million, on sales of $140 to $160 million. The consensus is they will lose 19 cents per share. They will also give details on their most recent round of job cuts and what they are doing to save money.

During this call, Palm needs to convince investors that they have a workable long-term plan turn the company around.

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Too Little... Too Late

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 1:23:47 PM #
These announcements are lame. Looks like Palm has lost the momentum. Companies like Sony, Handspring, and TRG are running with the baton.

It's time for the CEO to leave. Yankowski needs to be yanked.

RE: Too Little... Too Late
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 2:42:35 PM #
Depends on what you are talking about. In terms of pure "gee whiz" innovation (i.e. MP3 playback built into DSP chips/ala the new Clie), the Sony and Handsprings of the world are moving forward. For the most part though (w/ the exception of such features as increased productivity features like resolution), these are advances for the consumer market.

BUT, and this is key, Palm's announcements today MAY very well help them take the lead in the corporate enterprise market AND this is where the real money is. Witness, the news last week that Compaq's iPAQ will surpass Palm in total dollars (due to higher price) even though Palm has greater market share. The money is in corporate enterprise and not primarily in consumer products.

RE: Too Little... Too Late
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/27/2001 12:45:43 AM #
I couldn't agree more that these announcements are NOT "lame". Quite honestly, most of the posters here don't know anything about business or even wooing businesses (if your reading this, it doesn't neccesarily mean you, just posters in general). The only thing they (posters) do understand is exactly what the poster above mentioned: the "gee whiz" factor.

Look, Palm isn't close to being "dead" just because they don't have an MP3 player or can't play some DVD you just spent 20 hours ripping and encoding. Ask any executive if he wants or needs either.

I work on Wall Street (no I'm not bragging, just using it as an example of the enterprise market) and I know of NO ONE who uses an iPaq or any other Pocket PC. Yes, I'm sure there are some somewhere, but all I've seen are Palm V(x)'s and Blackberries (truth be told, I see almost as many Blackberries as Palms).

RE: Too Little... Too Late
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/27/2001 4:38:41 PM #
Right on man, most of the people who post to these boards are just power users without any real knowledge of how business works. I'm glad some people realize this.

Corporate sales is the only hope for Palm

wilco @ 6/26/2001 1:39:40 PM #
Palm is going in the right direction for the moment, corporate sales is their only hope. This looks like make-or-break for Palm. End users sales will continue likely suffer as their products lack the coolness factor of iPaq or CLIE. They doesn't seem to have any new product in the pipeline that matches their competitors 'must-get' factor. Corporations, on the other hand, does not care much about designs and the Palm name will carry a certain amount of weight with the IT managers. Furthermore Corporations buys in bulk, although the economic slowdown will make it harder to manage than otherwise.

RE: Corporate sales is the only hope for Palm
kevdo @ 6/26/2001 2:35:32 PM #
>They doesn't seem to have any new product in the
>pipeline that matches their competitors 'must-get'
>factor

The m505 fit that bill, for me. I didn't like the form factor of the Clie - and the bundled software was a huge plus for me compared to the Sony and Handspring models. I also preferred the screen of the m505 over the Clie and Handspring as well.

If the screenshots of the m700 are correct, it should be a lot smaller and less bulky than the Palm VII. Not sure if they are considering a color model - which for me is now a must-have in a PDA.

Palm is just fine

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 2:50:21 PM #
Backlit color screens, on palmtops like the Palm OS -IIIc and Prism and Pocket PC -Casio and HP units, are battery hogs and unviewable in decent lighting conditions and thus make the user unable to use the device at multiple times due to lighting or battery. This is unacceptable.

IF: You consider reflective color models the ONLY really cool top-end devices that are relevant (which is something I believe to be the case).

THEN: You have Sony Clie 710/610, Compaq iPAQ, and Palm m505.


IF: You also believe battery life IS actually important.

THEN: You have 'maybe' the heavily sidelit Sony Clie 710/610 and definitely the Palm m505.

Now, tell me who will buy the Clie 710's now that they know the 610, a better, cheaper product will be available in August?

Didn't Sony just make a huge error by announcing a future product better than the current product (just released weeks ago)?


RE: Palm is just fine
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 3:33:20 PM #
I didnt buy the Clie because I don't want or need MP3. I'm not going to listen to rock and bang my head on my desk all day. The M505 made alot more sense from a professional standpoint, and I find the display to be very acceptable.

RE: Palm is just fine
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 4:11:21 PM #
I agree completely. My m505 is fabulous, for me there is nothing cooler.

FYI: Use the color version of 'Silverscreen' a launcher by www.pocketsensei.com to really knock your socks off everytime you turn it on. Wow. :)



RE: Palm is just fine
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 4:17:39 PM #
finally someone gets it. so many are just point to discrepancies to comfirm their purchase in other models. stay tuned, for as all have rushed to me, and maybe some models are better, but afterall, it is Palm O/S isn't it. and there is more interest than just corporate, check the palm website for all the added sections addressing the largest markets right now, and they are not interested in mp3 players, and all of that entertainment bs that i am not as well. I use a pda for work, and all of that other stuff can wait until my time away from work. And to that, there is no one close to Palm, cheers gentlemen, well done.

RE: Palm is just fine
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 4:51:13 PM #
Define better/cheaper. The 710 is really a 16-bit display, just caught by the version of PalmOS they used (obviously they ran this out to market a little faster then they planned). The 610 is a 710 w/ PalmOS 4.0 w/o Audio (did they pull the DSP too?). It's not enough cheaper that it makes a difference. BTW, played w/ both @ TechXNY today - both are very nice machines, great screen...

New Devices?

I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 5:13:17 PM #
Is is just me or wasn't palm suppost to announce a new device today? Like the m300 or m700. OR a new HIGH END device.

RE: New Devices?
Ed @ 6/26/2001 5:17:43 PM #
That was the rumor but it turns out to have been incorrect. Palm's CEO said nothing about a new mid-range model and, according to Ryan who was there for his speech, didn't even mention the wireless model that scheduled to be out by the end of this year.

While we're on the topic, looks like the rumors of the Visor Snap were off the mark, too. Thank God for Sony or the rumor mill would have been O for 4.

---
News Editor
Palm Infocenter

RE: New Devices?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 5:28:19 PM #
Since it is officially just rumor at this point, where did you get the handspring 'information'? You mentioned it was a reliable source. I guess you might have to rethink who you listen to at this point, huh?

RE: New Devices?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/26/2001 6:47:02 PM #
I have read all these posts in regards to enterprise issues and new handhelds. I was abit surprised that no handhelds were introduced or talked about by Palm. But on the other hand, they need to re-establish a trust with the coperate market. They need to prove that they are behind the enterprise market and not just a consumer device company. But...

I'm sick of this news. Other companies are pushing the limits of the PalmOS and Palm is not. An SD slot is the only new technology Palm has incorporated into the new m5xx series. That's it. Are you telling me that the enterprise market users don't want other features in their PDA's? Then why is Compaq winning? Not b/c of all the enterprise applications! It's b/c it has the horsepower to be more than a Palm. Those users are also regular people who may want to listen to music too, you know! If I was a user who needed all these benefits in one device, why would I look at Palm? Why not PocketPC? Palm just looks like a wannabe that can't compete b/c their OS has not grown up.

Don't get me wrong, I love my Palm. I just sometimes feel that Palm doesn't want my business when I outgrow my needs with my current device. There are less options than say handspring or sony to keep up with my needs. Remember when Handspring came out and there were no Springboard attachments? Now they have new Springboards coming out every week. A 256mb card was just released this week as reported here in Palminfocenter.com. I just hope Palm is selling that land in San Jose, to use the money for R&D and perhaps bring out some devices and software that are more remarkable than what Microsoft can put out there.

RE: New Devices?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/27/2001 3:46:32 AM #
" Are you telling me that the enterprise market users don't want other features in their PDA's? Then why is Compaq winning? Not b/c of all the enterprise applications! It's b/c it has the horsepower to be more than a Palm. Those users are also regular people who may want to listen to music too, you know!"

This is completely wrong.

Compaq is "winning" because of several factors, NONE of which is the ability to play MP3. The iPAQ has the ability to use PCMCIA cards through use of the add-on jackets. Because of this, it has the ability for corporate enterprise to use wireless ethernet and items like the Sierra Wireless/Novatel no strings connected modems.

Also, you need to realize that Palm did not include "enterprise friendly" apps in their devices until the m500/505 series. And I mean that in the basic sense of things like Documents to Go (Word Processing/Spreadsheet). For the iPAQ, it has THE standards built in (Word, Internet Explorer, Excel) from the get go. None of this "requires" horsepower to work decently. Entertainment stuff (i.e. mp3) takes horsepower. Witness how game machines run circles around "work" computers.

However, I think the idea that Compaq is "winning" is a false statement also. Compaq surpassed Palm in revenue, but not market share. Compaq sells the iPAQ at a higher price, but sold roughly a million. Palm has sold in the double-digit millions. Palm primarily has consumer market share and needs to leverage this "mind share" lead into a bigger chunk of the corporate enterprise pie.

Sony 800 ??
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/27/2001 9:01:16 AM #
Nobody seems to notice that when Sony talked about their complete line, they had a 800 series listed.

Throughout their product line, as the number increases, they seem to put more feature in it. So the real question is: What are the specs of the 800 series ???

Maybe it will be the super PDA with a full time internet access.

Solo

Palm Losing?

Chew @ 6/28/2001 1:13:38 AM #
I can't understand all of the comments made that Palm is losing to Compaq or that Palm is going under. Yes, Palm is not the most visionary company and its leadership seems to lack direction, but so what. The vision for the Palm OS is being supplied by their licencees and their leadership will be ousted long before the company suffers any serious damage.

Why is everyone so down on Palm? Their enterprise initiative is a great first step. They already, along with Handrspring & Sony, own the consumer market. New, innovative 3rd party apps and hardware are being released every day. The new 500 series is selling well and both Handspring & Sony have created innovative products that have increased exposure for the OS. Palm and their Palm OS licencees are going to be fine.

As for losing to Compaq, how can you make the leap from slightly higher revenue to losing a battle for the enterprise & consumer markets? I am a sales manager for a recently automated consumer product company. At corporate training seminars and both profesional and industry funtions I have yet to see a single MS PPC device used by anyone. I see Palm V's, Vx's, M500's, Handspring Visor Platinum's, (my choice), Visor Edge's, IBM clones and a few Blackberry's but no Casio's, Compaq's or HP's. (I'm sure that they are out there somewhere but I doubt there are many.) Could it be that the reason for this is that the Palm OS is a great product for enterprise? I think so!

Stop all of the bickering and childish complaing. Palm and their OS will be competitive, and more importantly viable, for many years to come.

RE: Palm Losing?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/28/2001 12:26:25 PM #
Since when does the company you work for(one meager non random sample) serve as a basis that business men and women all over America don't use Pocket PC's?

You probably own shares of stock in Palm. Blah!

RE: Palm Losing?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/28/2001 12:36:07 PM #
Oh, never mind. Misread your article.

RE: Palm Losing?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/28/2001 12:36:46 PM #
Again, jumped the gun too soon. Forget what I wrote earlier.



RE: Palm Losing?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/28/2001 12:38:24 PM #
Birds of a feather flock together.

RE: Palm Losing?
I.M. Anonymous @ 6/28/2001 1:23:25 PM #
Uh yeah, sure buddy.

Bottom line: Most corporate users use Palm. In the last three days, I've been to three different corporations and still haven't seen a single PPC yet.

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