No Further Treo 650 Shipments to Europe
Palm announced in its latest quarterly conference call that no more Treo 650 shipments will be sent to Europe because of new European environmental laws. The smartphone will be available from carriers until current inventory runs out. Palm has also promised a new Treo model designed for European markets before the end of the year to replace the Treo 650 and comply with the RoHS directive.
European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) law prohibits the use of lead and five other toxic substances in electronics equipment takes effect July 1st. Internal components in the Treo 650 smartphone contain lead and the current model is not in compliance with the new standards.
Palm has said that they have made sure that European distributors received a final large shipment before the deadline. However, no further new Treo 650's will be sent to the EU from Palm.
Palm has said that its next Treo smartphone will be targeted at European markets and is lead free and in full compliance with the RoHS law.
Palm CEO Ed Colligan stated that Palm wants to get its new European product into Europe "as soon as possible." He went on to further indicate the upcoming model is not likely to become available until Palm's 2nd Quarter in FY 2007, which would be in the October - December 2006 timeframe.
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RE: No smartphone for Europe?
They were not caught by surprise. It was a conscious choice not to invest further into an old device. The problem was that the WM device they were going to replace it with has been delayed (as they often are).
Surur
They said I only argued for the sake of arguing, but after an hour I convinced them they were wrong...
RE: No smartphone for Europe?
Yes, read that exactly like its typed. From a transcript of the CC the quality of which I do not know:
== "...It’s got some impact. There’s no question about that. It
== is not significant, but it’s real..."
RE: No smartphone for Europe?
But in any case, someone obviously decided that a WM device would substitute for a palmos device - ie they made a decision not to offer a palmos device to europe - or at least, to gamble on the supply pipeline for the palmos device.
And if not having a product for Europe does not have much impact for palm, I'd say they need to get their finger out of their arse regarding selling to Europe.
A first step might be to come up with a device that has some European-style flair to it - ie get rid of the stupid antenna. It might say 'Hey this is really a cell phone, look how connected I am' in the States. It says 'look how clunky and clumsy looking my mobile is' in Europe.
RE: No smartphone for Europe?
Great....
Not clever.
Palm's output of new models really has slowed to a crawl... they do need to pick their game up and deliver a good selection of innovative product with good sleek looks - both in the PDA and SmartPhone sectors.
K
RE: Great....
> European market until the end of 2006 in all likelihood...
That is not quite true.
PALM outright said they stuffed the European channel with environmentally-incorrect TREO 650s before the June 30th deadline! From a transcript of the CC the quality of which I cannot vouch for at all:
== "...June 30th is the last time we can ship the Treo 650 into
== the European market."
==
== James Faucette – Pacific Crest
==
== "Okay so for the months of July and August, you won’t have any
== real shipments into Europe?"
==
== Ed Colligan
==
== "Correct – of SmartPhones, that is correct. That’s also
== shipments into Europe. We’ve obviously thought about this, and
== tried to put some product in Europe in our various
== distributors and carriers such that we can continue to satisfy
== some end-user demand..."
Thus they have LOTS and LOTS of smartphones ready to be sold in Europe!
When that channel-stuffing is accounted for is an interesting question, IMHO! Was it accounted for in the just-reported quarter or is it going to be accounted for in the to-be-reported August quarter?
And, inquiring minds wanna know, what if they can't sell them for a "good price"? How do they account for THAT?
And, inquiring minds wanna know, how will the introduction in the final months of 2006 of the "GSM TREO 700" affect the selling of all those channel-stuffed TREO 650s and how will THAT be accounted for!?
Gotta luv the game, eh?
===
What I also found interesting about that CC, BTW, was a lack of mention of anything about nonEuropean nonUSA.
RE: Great....
But no one ever said palm knew what the hell they were doing, did they? I hope not.
your last chance to snap upu a Treo 650 in the UK....
http://euro.palm.com/uk/en/privatesales/index.html?sssdmh=edc1.153689
But it seems this offer is only valid until this Sunday (2nd July) - so you'd best be quick.
KultiVator
Consequently...
I noted from the conference call that Palm got a quarter of its revenue from the rest of the world. Putting two and two together it seems that Palm has previously either been unable or unwilling to take the European market seriously or that it has already conceded much of Europe to competitors. After all, I doubt Treos even get a second glance in Nokia's home turf - Finland. You want proof? Visit http://euro.palm.com/fi/ . Palm hasn't even bothered to translate the site into Finnish!
No Palm smartphone in Europe until at least September seems to suggest little change in ability. Reassuringly, Palm's recently opened smartphone centre in Ireland seems to suggest at least a change in policy.
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President.
- President Theodore Roosevelt
RE: Consequently...
RE: Consequently...
Consensus
Look's like Palm has dropped the ball (yet) again!
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the President.
- President Theodore Roosevelt
So *that's* how I got that tumor...
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RE: So *that's* how I got that tumor...
RE: So *that's* how I got that tumor...
Ba dum dum. :p
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No smartphone for Europe?
Palm will have had ample warning about this deadline, and would more than likely have had the opportunity to switch components/suppliers, etc.
Was someone simply asleep at Palm (actually, is anyone there awake??) - or is there a good economic reason why the treo couldn't have been jigged into compliance ?
In any case, the result seems to be that Palm no longer have a smartphone in the European market, since the 700x don't seem to be available.
Oh sorry, you can still buy a treo 600 apparently. Or does this fall under the hammer too?
F***ing Clowns.
Would the last one out please switch off the lights.