Colligan: Palm Stands Alone

"What we are focused on today is making sure this business is as successful as possible as a stand-alone business," said Colligan.

Translation: "We can't find a f*cking buyer! Those jackholes over at Nokia wouldn't even return my phone calls! Motorola slammed the door in my face too. Ed Zander just laughed when I told him our asking price, and made some lewd joke about what I was holding in my "Palm". We did get some solicitations from Bubba's Farm and Tractor Supply, but I think there is some confusion there as the CEO mistakenly believed that we manufacture hand lotion and udder cream. So yeah, we're just going to stick to what we're doing now and pray to God that iPhone doesn't make our products look as obsolete as they really are."

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http://www.pocketfactory.com
http://www.elitistsnob.com

We are also commited and focused on killing off our handheld buisness. So far we have done a reasonably good job of abandoning our developers and long time users. We have a whole team commited to posting on discussion forums that the PDA is dead and only idiots want to use a touchscreen any longer. Once we have those loyal and patient wacko's out of the picture we can put all our energy towards the trendy customer who buys a device because it's cool at the moment. We can then add additional colors of that device only available if they have a certain cell phone carrier. The funky color thing worked for Crayola why not the Treo. Hey is that a Razzmatazz Timber Wolf Treo?

PDA's Past and Present:
Palm - IIIxe, Vx, M500, M505, Tungsten T, TX
Handspring - Edge, Platinum, Deluxe
Sony - SJ22
Apple - MP2000, MP2100

This is most significant to me:

>>> Cupertino, California-based Apple, whose iPhone combines its iPod music player with a Web browser, e-mail and phone functions, aims to sell 10 million of the devices in 2008. Palm shipped 2.3 million Treos in fiscal 2006.

By contrast:

>>>Palm's PalmPilot electronic organizer, which preceded the Treo as a breakthrough product, sold more than 1 million units within 18 months of its debut in 1996.

How many Treos were sold in its first 18 months?

iPhone is gonna kill them. It will have the highest sales of *any* phone ever.

UPDATE: Dell At Center Of Rumor Co. Could Buy Palm

April 12, 2007: 01:58 PM EST

(RECASTS headline)

By Donna Fuscaldo and Roger Cheng

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

With speculation swirling as to who would want to buy handheld device maker Palm Inc. (PALM), computer maker Dell Inc. (DELL) has been popping up as a would-be suitor.

Recent talk that Dell would want to buy Palm is being spurred by Dell's decision to no longer sell its Axim handheld computer.

While Dell has the financial clout to make an acquisition of Palm's size, some analysts and investors don't think any sort of deal is imminent. They say Dell, which has historically shied away from big acquisitions, is focused more on turning around the company then getting into the smartphone market via Palm.

"Dell has its hands full with its current problems," said Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst at Caris & Company, which initiated coverage of Dell Thursday with a above average rating. "Dell is focused on right sizing the ship versus undertaking an acquisition like this."

Palm spokeswoman Marlene Somsak declined to comment. Officials at Dell weren't immediately available comment.

Palm, whose shares have risen 27% since hitting a 52-week low late December, has been buoyed by takeover speculation. Handset giants Nokia Corp. (NOK) and Motorola Inc. (MOT) were each believed to have expressed interest in the maker of smartphones, while a group of private equity firms were also said to have been in the mix. Palm's decision to tap Morgan Stanley as an advisor added fuel to the rumor fire. Chief Executive Ed Colligan said recently that the firm has been its banker for many years, but wouldn't comment on whether the company has asked it to do any special projects.

The company, whose line of Treo smartphones commands a small but loyal base of customers, faces competitive pressures from the larger handset makers. Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM), for example, dominates the market for mobile e-mail devices to corporate customers, while larger players such as Motorola have a wide range of products that Palm can't compete with. Colligan said the company was streamlining its operations in an effort to more quickly put out a less expensive product to the market.

While the smartphone market is expected to see growth, industry watchers wondered why Dell would want to get into that area, given the well heeled competitors and the fact that the company stopped selling its own handheld computer device.

"They just axed the Axim line," said Mark Mowrey, a analyst at Al Frank Asset Management, which owns shares of Dell. Dell buying Palm is "strange to me," said the analyst. Mowrey said it wouldn't make that much sense for Dell to buy Palm since having the actual hardware device may not add too much value when servicing corporate customers. Mowrey did note that Dell competitor Hewlett- Packard Co. (HPQ) has a "somewhat respected" presence in the smartphone market.

Dell, which has been struggling for sometime now, recently launched a restructuring plan which resulted in the ouster of CEO Kevin Rollins and the return of Michael Dell to the helm. The company has said it would look for acquisitions, largely in the services market. Still analysts have been speculating about a host of companies Dell could or may want to buy.

Take Brent Bracelin, an analyst at Pacific Crest Securities, which earlier this week came out with a laundry list of potential targets for Dell. While Palm landed on the list, Bracelin said that's one of the dozen companies Dell could buy. Bracelin said that Palm isn't the only way for Dell to get into the smartphone market and named High Tech Computer Corp out of Taiwan and Motion Computing, the Texas private handheld device maker as examples of other potential targets.

"The reality is Dell is at the point where the company is looking at several IP technologies," said the analyst. "To say some sort of deal between Palm and Dell is imminent is way premature."

Recently, shares of Dell were trading up 1.6% or 39 cents to $24.63 on volume of 13.5 million shares. Average daily volume is 23.2 million shares. Shares of Palm were recently up 1% or 19 cents to $17.02 on volume of 4.3 million shares.

-By Donna Fuscaldo, Dow Jones Newswires; 704-371-4263; donna.fuscaldo@ dowjones.com

-By Roger Cheng, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-2020; roger.cheng@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-12-07 1358ET
Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200704121358DOWJONESDJONLINE001033_FORTUNE5.htm