Palm Q1 FY07 Conference Call Highlights
Palm held their fiscal first quarter conference call today with analysts and shareholders. Palm's CEO Ed Colligan gave investors an update on Palm Inc's performance during the past quarter and went over future plans and goals going forward. He also revealed some new details on a upcoming, competitively priced Treo model due to be released shortly and a large scale advertising campaign to follow.
Colligan started off the talk going over revenue and performance for the quarter. Palm had a total of $355 million in revenue, with 76% ($269m) of that coming from Treo sales. Treo sell through was at 569,000 units for the quarter tying Q3-FY06's record numbers. Year over year Treo sell trough was up 21%. You can read the full figures in our Q3 results article.
Colligan stated that sales did not meet Palm expectations for the quarter. He placed the blame for the shortfall on slower sales in carrier retails stores due to pricing pressure from competing smartphone products that have recently been introduced. He stated business to business sales remained strong, despite the retail slump. He promised that lower priced product is due for release in the "very near future" will address the retail shortfall. He did say that a new mail in rebate program (likely referring to the $299 Verizon specials on the 700p and 700w) were having a positive impact on sales, but were not included in the recent quarter.
Treo 750v
He then went on to talk about Palm's plans for worldwide expansion, highlighting the recently announced Treo 750v. He said European customers in nine countries would be able to buy the product in the beginning of October. Prices are going to range from $299 USD to free depending on contracts and other promotions. He stated that Vodafone and Microsoft were going to heavily push the product in upcoming European marketing campaigns.
He also talked about how Palm will be utilizing a new Chinese based ODM partner begging next year to further differentiate and to help drive down costs. He also stated that Palm would be opening a new Shanghai smartphone R&D center soon.
He also stated that the Treo 700wx would soon be made available in other countries where CDMA technology is in use.
Colligan also revealed that Palm will be launching one of its largest US advertising campaigns soon. He stated the $25 million dollar campaign aims to bring new awareness to the Palm brand and push the benefits of smartphone adoption.
4th New Smartphone
Colligan also talked about the last remaining new Treo smartphone promised for release this year. He stated the release would come in the "very near future". The product will have worldwide distribution and will be offered by over 20 carriers by the end of this year. It's expected to be very competitively priced.
Not much about this device has been leaked, however analysts have been predicting Palm would be release a sub-$300 smartphone this year using previous generation radio technologies. It could likely be a GSM/EDGE device that runs Palm OS Garnet. Pictures of such a device with a design similar to the 750v were recently leaked. Rumors based on leaked Cingular documents have shown a Palm OS Treo on their release schedule for October.
Handhelds
Handheld revenue for the quarter was $87 million on sell through of 490,000 units. When asked how the PDA side of the business is doing Colligan stated that Palm "has been very focused on being a smartphone company." He said he does not expect the usual sales bump in handhelds this coming quarter, as is traditional with the holiday sales pattern.
Those two statements are not good news for Palm fans who are hoping to see a new PDA release from Palm this year. Although Colligan was quick to point out that Palm still leads in most US PDA sales, if no new handhelds are released this fall 2006 would mark the first year in Palm's 10 year history the company has not introduced a new PDA product.
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RE: Let's cut the B.S., Mr. Colligan. Here are the facts:
2) I agree.
3) I agree.
4) I agree.
5) I agree.
6) I agree.
7) I agree.
8) I agree.
9) I agree.
10) I super agree.
RE: Let's cut the B.S., Mr. Colligan. Here are the facts:
RE: Let's cut the B.S., Mr. Colligan. Here are the facts:
mobileministrymagazine.com
antoinerjwright.com
RE: Let's cut the B.S., Mr. Colligan. Here are the facts:
The margins are still decent and there actually may be a sales spike in PDA sales in the coming two quarters as people try to "stock up".
I currently have a TX in addition to my 700P. I am going to buy another TX and possibly a Zodiac 2 if the price is right. If the 700P is not patched pronto I may seriously go back to the TX + cellphone (RAZR? KRZR?) combo again, even if it means giving up BT DUN with the TX.
I think Palm's relucatance/refusal to fix the 700P's major bugs might be a way of quietly telling its users that WinMob is the "better" OS and the wave of the future. By buying back stock and paring their non-Treo and non-WinMob lines down to the bare minimum (Z22, TX, 700P) Palm is definitely setting the company up for an acquisition.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
RE: Let's cut the B.S., Mr. Colligan. Here are the facts:
RE: Let's cut the B.S., Mr. Colligan. Here are the facts:
Thanks 'Toine. Someone has to tell it like it is. ;-O
Unfortunately, Palm is being mismanaged out of existence.
I've tried to keep 'em honest, but to no avail. Fortunately I'm stocked with enough CLIEs to last a decade and I already have all the PalmOS apps I could ever need.
TVoR
check out confusion at 42:20 - consumer market
"antipated competition . . . . competitors would grow the market . . . expand the market to consumer base and bring more into the category"
OK so they thought competitors would grow the consumer market. Ok, fine. First of all, why count on others to expand the market. Secondly, if you thought they would have expanded the market then where is your stinkin low end GSM and CDMA treo. The market is not going to expand TO you palm, you have to get it.
So is it growing or not. He sounds double minded.
that statement from the CFO blew my mind.
RE: check out confusion at 42:20 - consumer market
I want the link so I can listen to this bunch of monkeys when I get home from work.
Thanks in advance.
RE: check out confusion at 42:20 - consumer market
or you could go to palms investor page.
I'm wondering if palms inability to think outside the box and make a feature phone for the consumer market is going to kill them IF it hasn't already.
Failure to produce a SMALL PalmOS phone killed Palm
There's nothing "outside the box" about releasing a simple model to expand the PalmOS smartphone appeal - it's just common sense. And naturally, being common sense it's also beyond Palm to create a basic PalmOS phone.
This wasn't rocket surgery or even Jeff Hawkins-styled brain science. A device like this from Palm could have been a smash hit in the $200 price level:
http://www.palminfocenter.com/news/8994/gspda-announces-the-xplore-m70/
TVoR
RE: check out confusion at 42:20 - consumer market
Waiting with bated breath!
RE: check out confusion at 42:20 - consumer market
I agree, however for palm this is "outside the box." Someone has convinced them that they are going to continue to be able to charge an arm and a leg for low end devices. They could have put out a feature phone with no touch screen, no sd slot and cut the price. If they did that . . . they would be in the same position they're in now except they would be hurting nokia, motorola, etc. by moving people away from dumb phones.
Palm's insistence on being "mobile computing company" has put them in a box and may have stopped them from adapting.
They might then be talking about 3 product lines again - smartphone, featurephone and pda.
RE: check out confusion at 42:20 - consumer market
The IIIe was more like a cheaper midrange model instead of a low end device.
The m100 wasn't a half-bad first attempt but it was SO ugly and the screen was really small.
The original Zire was a joke in every way imaginable, as was the Zire 21.
Then Palm hit the ball out of the park with the Zire 31---STILL arguably the best bang for the buck mobile device *EVER* (not just for PDAs but anything). A decent screen, 16mb REAL RAM, a decent d-pad, SD slot and a headphone jack. For $100 you had a capable device that could be a PDA, a game player, a photo viewer, an e-book reader or an mp3 player. Palm could easily resurrect the Zire 31 FF, call it a Z32, add a FAT32 or SDHC compatability and tweak the OS. It'd still be the perfect $100 device.
The Z22 is a step backwards from the Zire 31 in every way other than processor speed, RAM, and OS. NVFS is of questionable value on a low end device and the Z22's lack of a headphone jack or SD slot is apalling.
With idiotic "value subtractions" like removing the IR port, I doubt anyone will give the budget Treo a look in this day and age. Two years ago or even last year, yes...but not now.
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
Abandoning traditional handhelds???
I still have a HUGE need for a traditional, non-keyboard form, handheld for work. I have about 10 different medical reference books in electronic form on my handheld and I use them about once every 30 minutes. EVERYONE I know in medicine also uses a traditional handheld. What are we all to do when the Palm handheld really dies? I don't need another cell phone. I doubt Apple will jump in, especially as yet another company in the handheld industry as important as Palm is failing. Even if they do, all of those electronic reference publishers will have to re-write all that software...
Is there no other industry other than medicine and medical education that still relies so heavily on traditional handhelds???
RE: Abandoning traditional handhelds???
There is indeed a strong market for handhelds. Palm Inc is simply stupid and they are disabusing that market by not releasing updates and new products. This is simply one of those crazy corporate stories where companies goes wrong and they just dont realize it.
Palm has no idea where its going, proof of that is how many times they changed their objective and business plan. Now they 100% into Treos and they swear by that. Big error in my opinion.
As for now, I will continue to use my TX. I might buy 1 more spare even though Palm Inc does not deserve anymore of my money, and then I guess we will have to turn to Dell or HP handhelds. The X51v has VGA at least, so I guess I would have to go back to that if I have no choice.
You know though, Palm can change its decision about handhelds in a second. Like I said earlier, they have changes their plans dozens of times in the last couple of years and they will continue to change. So who really knows...
RE: Abandoning traditional handhelds???
RE: Abandoning traditional handhelds???
Is there no other industry other than medicine and medical education that still relies so heavily on traditional handhelds???
I feel your pain, but you still have time to prepare for the apocalypse, my son. Get a brand new Tapwave Zodiac 2 (128 MB RealRAM™, two SD slots) for only $125 direct from the company that used to support them. Buy 3 and ensure you'll be able to enjoy Lexidrugs, Sanford, Skyscape, etc in all their glory for years to come. Just remember to hide your precious Zodiac 2 stash from colleagues when their craptastic Tungstens all die of Deadly Digitizer Drift Disease (D4).
TVoR
RE: Abandoning traditional handhelds???
I thought the same thing...until my Treo came.
Best regards
Tam Hanna
Find out more about the Palm OS in my blog:
http://tamspalm.tamoggemon.com
RE: Abandoning traditional handhelds???
RE: Abandoning traditional handhelds???
Pilot 1000-->Pilot 5000-->PalmPilot Pro-->IIIe-->Vx-->m505-->T|T-->T|T2-->T|C-->T|T3-->T|T5-->TX-->Treo 700P
If only car companies would imitate palm
---
David
The Day is Near
This is a sad year in history....
The only hope we have is that the company that purchased palm source will make their own PDAs and continue serving those who do not wish to move to a smartphone. I know the cell phone companies are loving this switch. Oh, well....
Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.
RE: The Day is Near
Source http://investor.palm.com/
theog, some company will always make PDAs, you will see.
PS. Yes, John Kerry would have been the guy. This guy is in my opinion the best president the US would of ever had. Amazing man from what I saw during his speeches. Shame he lost. Hope he presents himself again next time.
RE: The Day is Near
It figures that a SOCIALIST german and canadian both like john kerry. any filthy, stinky frenchmen want to chime in too???
europe and canada live off of the goodwill of the American people.
RE: The Day is Near
Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.
OT
Seen An Inconvenient Truth, VL? It makes you want to cry. Here's an intelligent, articulate man [Al Gore] who walks you through slide after slide of data without any notes at all, who dares to say that looming global environmental catastrophe may be a little more worriesome than a couple of religious nutjobs with bombs strapped to them. And they didn't vote him in!! They instead voted for the guy who can't even spell his own name!!!
Ack. The rest of the world should be given a vote in U.S. elections, given how much potential the results have to screw everybody over. Especially Australia, given how far our nose has been up America's ass lately...
Ahem. We were talking about PDAs?
Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650
RE: The Day is Near
No, we are not talking about PDAs... we are talking about Treos. Get with the program, man (or woman)! PDAs are dead!
I don't know why these people are worried about John Kerry... his chance has passed... he is a foot note in history... nothing more, nothing less. He is a loser.
Best man for the job alright... I know he loves his new job of "holding down the couch".
I'm sure some idiot someplace is saying, "If John Kerry were in office, Palm would have released a new PDA this year."
Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.
Treo Feeling the Heat Already
slower sales in carrier retails stores due to pricing pressure from competing smartphone products that have recently been introduced.
You can go to a shop in the UK today and buy the Nokia e61 NOW for £299 (or online for £260) WITHOUT ANY CONTRACT.
Most UK cellular carriers are offering the Nokia e61 for FREE with contract.
If both of these new Treos debut in Europe at prices greater than £299 then Palm may as well close their European operations before the bankruptcy courts do it for them.
The competition's not going to get any easier Eddie.
Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. Aaron Levenstein
RE: Treo Feeling the Heat Already
I think several things need to happen before these devices become the norm:
1) price reduction
a) per unit
b) data cost
2) reliability, in general, needs to be improved
Palm is going to have a hard road to follow. Being a one-product company has NEVER been a good idea, especially so when you start to see major competition move into your sector.
I wish my dream would come true: Apple buys palm. Apple launches iPalm and iPDA. Of course, I don’t think this will happen…
Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.
RE: Treo Feeling the Heat Already
OT: BE AMERICAN, BOYCOTT CITGO
For the Non-Socialists here -
BE AMERICAN, BOYCOTT CITGO
By Bob Lonsberry
Written September 21, 2006
Hugo Chavez insulted our president.
Hugo Chavez insulted our country.
Hugo Chavez insulted our military.
Hugo Chavez insulted our history.
He said we are a curse on the planet and that we endanger the very survival of humankind. He said that the countries of the world must unite against us.
He hates the United States and everything about us.
Except our money, of course. Our money makes him rich. And it gives him the power to spread anti-American hatred around the globe. His entire regime is built on American money.
So I think we should stop giving it to him.
I think it has become the patriotic duty of all Americans to avoid sending another dime into Hugo Chavez’s particular Third World hellhole. He has called us his enemy. That makes him our enemy.
And we don’t do business with our enemies.
We boycott them.
Remember this word: Citgo. That’s the brand of gasoline you will never buy again. That’s the brand of gasoline you will talk your friends into never buying again.
Because Citgo equals Chavez and Chavez equals hatred of America. And it’s time for real Americans to stop buying Citgo.
Here’s the background.
Hugo Chavez is the dictator of Venezuela. Venezuela would be just another crap-in-a-hole banana farm if it weren’t for oil. Oil that is brought to the American market by the Venezuelan government – through its subsidiary, Citgo gasoline.
You’ve probably heard of it. The “c” is pronounced like an “sh.”
The predecessor to Citgo was started in America by an American in 1910. It took the name Citgo in 1965, and was bought by Occidental Petroleum in 1982. Occidental was a company most noted for its ties to the Soviet Union and Al Gore’s dad. Occidental turned around the next year and sold Citgo to the company that owns the 7-11 convenience stores.
So far, so good.
But it turned dirty in 1986 when the convenience store company sold half of Citgo to something called Petroleos de Venezuela. In 1990, Petroleos de Venezuela bought the other half and owned Citgo lock, stock and barrel.
What is Petroleos de Venezuela? It is the Venezuelan government. It is not a private company, it is a nationalized industry, much like the industries of Cuba, the Soviet Union and other communist countries.
So Citgo is Petroleos de Venezuela, and Petroleos de Venezuela is Venezuela, and Venezuela is Hugo Chavez, and Hugo Chavez is our enemy.
Therefore Citgo is our enemy.
And every dollar you spend on Citgo gasoline is a dollar that cuts America’s throat. I’m not saying that, Hugo Chavez is saying that. At the United Nations and at the conference of unaligned nations, Hugo Chavez said Venezuela would support and lead those nations that wanted to rise up against the United States.
That means he’s going to bankroll the people who hate you and your country.
Or rather, that means he’s going to use your gas money to bankroll the people who hate you and your country.
If you keep buying Citgo gasoline.
So let’s draw the line. Let the Citgo boycott begin now. And let it end when Hugo Chavez is rotting in hell.
Anything less is first cousin to treason.
Some will complain that Americans distribute Citgo gasoline and will be hurt by a boycott. Others will say that Americans own and are employed by the convenience stores and gas stations that sell Citgo gasoline and that they also will be hurt by a boycott.
Tough luck.
I know many fine people who make their living from Citgo gasoline, and I will be sorry if this boycott hurts them. But I owe my country first, and must be loyal to it before I am loyal to my friends. There are other brands of gasoline, and I will gladly go back to familiar convenience stores and gas stations when they begin carrying a brand of gasoline that doesn’t enrich a regime that threatens the safety and freedom of my children.
This isn’t a Republican issue or a Democratic issue, this is an American issue. Hugo Chavez has gotten up and told us what he thinks of us. He has told us by his words and deeds that he hates us and that he wants to tear us down.
He is our enemy. And I will not give aid and comfort to the enemy.
I will not buy Citgo gasoline.
And you must not either.
Together we must tell as many people as we can. We must use the power of free speech and the power of the free market to kick this little tyrant where it counts.
We must change our habits if we are accustomed to buying Citgo gasoline. We must find new service stations and convenience stores. We must change our ways.
Or this man is going to bury us with our own money. He is going to use the wealth we give him to buy the knife that slits our throats and destroys our country.
Be an American, boycott Citgo.
http://www.boblonsberry.com/writings.cfm?story=1990&go=4
RE: OT: BE AMERICAN, BOYCOTT CITGO
[and I hope "the moderator" rapidly removes both these posts - there are forums for such. THis is not it.]
RE: OT: BE AMERICAN, BOYCOTT CITGO
Vote for John Kerry... best man for the job.
RE: OT: BE AMERICAN, BOYCOTT CITGO
we [the USA] endanger the very survival of humankind.
Seeing how the USA is the world's largest producer of greenhouse gases he may have a point...
As for your usual line of Canadians and Europeans living off the goodwill of America, that goodwill doesn't seem to be extend towards the British, Canadian and other European troops bravely battling the Taleban whilst the US "scales down" its operation in Afghanistan.
Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital. Aaron Levenstein
RE: OT: BE AMERICAN, BOYCOTT CITGO
thanks
Ryan, please delete this pathetic thread
Please expunge this thread ASAP before even more people have to read Geeko's screed.
Thank you.
TVoR*
(*who has NEVER made and off-topic post to Palminfocenter in the past 7 years...)
RE: OT: BE AMERICAN, BOYCOTT CITGO
Ryan knows where my loyalty lies! I just logged on to Brighthand today and look what I saw:
Welcome, Gekko.
You last visited: 11-04-2004 at 03:31 PM
Private Messages: Unread 0, Total 0.
You SOBs!!!!!!
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Let's cut the B.S., Mr. Colligan. Here are the facts:
- Are lack of PDA sales because no one wants them anymore or does no one want them because Palm has nothing for sale worthy of buying. TVoR says the death of PDAs was a self-fulfilling prophesy. A cynical (horrors!) TVoR would say this is by design, since smartphone margins are exponentially higher than traditional PDA margins.
2) Palm has failed to innovate in the world of smartphones.
- Handspring created the Treo 600 and handed it to Palm. The Treo 650 and Treo 700p are trivial updates to the Handspring design. The Treo 700w, Treo 700 wx and Treo 750v are likewise trivial updates to the Treo 600. Palm has almost nothing to show for 3 years of "innovation". Such a glacial rate of improvement is suicidal in the uber-competitive world of handset providers.
3) Palm's competition have now finally decided it's worth their time to try and persue the smartphone market.
- Nokia's N61, Motorola's Q and a dozen other entries soon to come will all take a HUGE chunk out of Palm's hind (financial) quarters, like a pack of rabid hyenas attacking a sickly, crippled antelope.
4) Palm neglected and then lost the only feature it had that truly mattered (PalmOS) and lacks the resources to create its own OS.
- Windows Mobile (customised) is the future.
5) Palm is on the auction block.
- The only way a company as small + poorly managed as Palm can survive competing in a cutthroat market against powerhouses like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Samsung, etc is to become a division of a larger company. Failure to find a buyer would rapidly prove fatal for Palm. Only problem is this: Palm's assets (Treo design, Palm name) are not worth its current market cap. MOST companies that could logically have an interest in Palm are smart enough to acquire/develop from scratch everything Palm has at a far cheaper cost than what it would now take to buy Palm outright. Losing PalmOS devalued Palm's true value MASSIVELY.
6) Mobile OSes are rapidly becoming irrelevant.
- Most cellphone users are OS-agnostic (and OS-oblivious), and the oft-touted PalmOS application library is no longer a significant advantage for Palm.
7) Palm had nothing of interest in the pipeline.
- Palm's corporate policy from Day 1 has been to charge stratospheric prices for (cheap) incremental upgrades. The company has been doing this fo so long it's incapable of true innovation (unless you consider the corporate games Palm played with IPOs, stock splits, PalmSource splits, etc to be "innovation").
8) Palm's sales are tanking and are are only going to get worse.
- Every new phone released by a competitior is another few percent decrease in Palm's revenues. With the company now almost totally dependent on smartphone revenues the bottom line is irreparably damaged by declining smartphone sales. Attempting to obfuscate this with absurd claims that Palm is now more concerned with market share than profitability, all while also refusing to adjust Palm's guidance (public prediction of company financial performance) is truly laughable. Does Palm think investors are absolutely clueless/blind? Apparently.
9) Palm is an AMATEUR in the world of handset suppliers.
- Pros like Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, et. al. don't screw up massively year after year the way Palm continues to do.
10) Palm's traditional customer base (PalmOS devotees) have run out of patience.
- After 3 years of cutting Palm a copious amoint of slack, the Palm faithful have been rewarded with a (biotch)slap in the face followed by a knee in the groin. Like so many battered spouses, finally many PalmOS fans have made the difficult decision to end the abuse by leaving.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry Kiddies, but I've seen the future and it ain't pretty. Palm is going to get bought out soon and you won't like the results. My suggestion if you like PalmOS: load up on as many Samsung i500, Tungsten T3, Zodiac 2 and CLIE TH55 as you can afford. And remember a few cans of peas for the bunker in case Goo(e)d Old Mike Cane should happen to cum by.
TVoR
By the way, anyone asked my Dear Dianne Hackborn what she's doing at Google these days? Bwahahahahah!
;-O