Volume Shipments of m500 Series Delayed

Posted By: Ed Wednesday, April 11, 2001 2:49:40 PM

Palm announced today that though they will launch the m500 and m505 on time, there will be a delay before they are shipping in large quantities. Palm CEO Carl Yankoski said, "Volume shipments are going to be a few weeks later than we had planned." When they were officially announced last month, Palm said the m500 would ship in April and the m505 in May.

Chief Marketing Officer Satjiv Chahil admitted that they pre-announced the devices early so Palm wouldn't be shown up by its competitors' new models at CeBit last month. "We didn't want the perceived leadership to shift away from us," he said. The m500 series was announced at roughly the same time as the new Sony Clié PEG-N700C and the Visor Edge.

When the m500 series was announced on March 19, Palm said, "The m500 handheld is scheduled to be available in the United States in late April" and "The m505 handheld is scheduled to be available in the United States in May". Exactly how much time is meant by a "few weeks" is not yet known and neither is how this will affect everyone who has pre-ordered one of the devices.

Palm's pre-announcement of the m500 series and the hints it released in the months prior to the announcement have been heavily criticized by analysts as leading to Palm's current inventory woes. The company is looking at hundreds of millions of dollars in unsold inventory it will have a hard time getting rid of as users wait for new models that aren't shipping yet.

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On the Web: Thanks to David Chen for bringing this to our attention. -Ed

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m505 vs Clie N700c

hockeychiro @ 4/11/2001 3:09:08 PM #
I have a m505 on Pre-Order (3/23/01) and have been anxiously waiting. Now with this announcement, many of those who also have the m505 on order, may actually have a decision to make whether or not to wait for a the new Clie due in the US sometime this summer (as I understand from other posts). Palm really seems to be stepping in it a lot lately. With the price drops just announced, the older models (IIIc and Vx) are no longer competing with the new m50x models. The price differences are so large that either a person needs to stay on a tight budget or they a willing to $pend for the new version. Come on Palm, let's get your act together and get the m505 into consumers hands or risk losing me and many others as potential customers.

RE: m505 vs Clie N700c
Ed @ 4/11/2001 3:38:16 PM #
I'm still not dead certain that the PEG-N700C will be in the U.S. this summer. This is all we've heard so far that mentions this summer:

"A Sony representative said that the new Clié will launch in the United States this year, with an announcement expected sometime around midyear. "
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-202-5136591.html

I'm not sure if the release and the announcement are going to come at the same time. I hope they are but they might not. Palm announced the m505 in March but most people won't see it until June.

I think what makes me nervous is that I never see anything from Sony more specific than "this year". A few weeks ago, Fujio Nishida, president of Sony Electronics, talked a bit about the Clié and all he said was "This year we are bringing out a better product." Not "this summer" or even "in the next few months", just "this year".
http://www.palminfocenter.com/view_Story.asp?ID=1783

Maybe I'm just paranoid because the U.S. release of the color version of the current Clié eventually got so delayed it looks like it is never going to happen at all.

---
Plenipotentiary
Palm Infocenter

RE: m505 vs Clie N700c
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/11/2001 4:20:38 PM #
Although I agree with Ed that the Clie n700c will almost certainly not be here this summer, I also feel the same way as the original post-er.

I have had three orders for the m505 since 3/19/01 and all I get are delays, ooooppppssss, and "we don't knows." I canceled my order with Palm b/c the rep told me that volume e-tailers like outpost and egghead will get theirs first, plus they charged me tax and shipping. Not cool. I then canceled my order with egghead because they told me April 13 for a while, charged my card $456.94 and then told me mid to late May- yet they enjoy the float of MY money while I get the bill and no Palm. I'll keep my order open with outpost and I also have one with Staples because of the online coupons.

If Sony did ship their new unit to the States early on, I would almost certainly drop Palm in a NY minute. Mind you I have had Palms since the Pro and have turned on literally countless friends and family to their pda's- not sony, trg or handspring.

However, after a while it gets to be really obnoxious. Where in the hell are these units and why can't they give us a straight answer??? For their Chief Marketing Officer to come out and acknowledge that they only announced them at CeBit so as not to get lost in the shuffle is disgraceful. I work for a nationwide manufacturer as their Marketing Director and I do not pre-announce products with so little disregard for my customers.

As much as I love Palm (I returned 2 iPaq's) and can't wait for the m505 to arrive, I'm pissed and I think they should be taken to task. To be candid with you, I'm thrilled the stock is in the toilet...

...for now.

Just my $ .02.

RE: m505 vs Clie N700c
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/11/2001 4:32:43 PM #
The other thing is that I've seen at least one bad review of the new Clie (I wish I had saved the link). It stated that the increased pixelization may be too much for the 33mHz Dragonball to bear and that it caused switching menus and apps to be painfully slow. Of course, this is only one review and not a great deal can necessarily be concluded from this. It is something to think about however. Also, don't forget that apps need to be specifically written to take advantage of the increased resolution.

On the other hand, I'm not sure the m500 series offerings are any great shakes either. We've all heard about the poor screen on the 505. Now if they can release a wide variety of SD cards (bluetooth, mp3, gps, 2-way pager, etc.) then you've really got something.

RE: m505 vs Clie N700c
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/11/2001 10:30:33 PM #
A few points regarding the Clie PEG-N700C.

The article stated that the US launch of the Clie is sometime midyear. Well, Sony launch the Clie in Japan, and it was available within two weeks. If Sony follows the same time-table with their US launch, we should expect the Clie units to take a couple of weeks the be available also. There's no reason for Sony to not follow the same time-table, and they certainly are not Palm.

Relating to the Clie's speed, yes it will be a little slower because of the color and resolution, but I don't think that it will be so slow that it will become inconvenient. The benchmark from the article below was 137%, that's only a little slower than the Visor deluxe. I think most application that's not graphic intenstive will run fairly smoothly at that speed.

By the way, the review article below is great and very informative.

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&safe=off&th=60b371b5ff9fdb32&rnum=1&seld=904803669&ic=1

Good screen shot: 160x160 vs. high res. 320x320 at:

http://odin.prohosting.com/fujima/n700c.shtml

The thing that I like most of all about the Clie is NO GRID-LINES!! The color is nice too.

Now Palm the company, I think they have really gotten soft, uninnovative, and complacent lately. I'm not sure if this complacency is because of their (false)sense of security because of their domanant market share or if because Hawkins and company left.

I remember reading about how Palm took on the Microsoft giant, when MS first wanted to dive into the handheld market about 5(?)years ago. Palm refused to let MS bully them into submission like most small companies. They even formed a Task Force (I forgot the name) to counter microsoft's every move. Remember that? That was great!! Palm's dominance in the handheld market was largely due to those aggressive and innovative moves.

What happen to you Palm?

Delayed Shipment No Surprise
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/12/2001 9:40:03 AM #
I too am disappointed in the delayed volume shipment of the new Palm m500 series. However, I
seem to remember that this has been the case with most of the new Palm's since the first one
was released. I ordered the very first PalmPilot from Palm (then USRobotics I believe) in March of
1996 and did not receive it until mid-May of that year. The same thing happened with other new
Palms when they were released.

I am not surprised by the delay, but just disappointed. However, you have to be fair to Palm; they
are in a much more competitive environment than when they first came out, and pre-advertising
products is nothing new to any company (think Microsoft and its Office and OS releases).

Me--I will stay with Palm. I have been very pleased with the synchronization and the stability of
the software; the primary reason I went with Palm in the first place.. Yes, there will always be
some better options on other products, but I'm not going to jump ship just because I can't get
my new toy as soon as I hoped. I would change, however, if Palm started creating junky hardware
or software--the IIIc came close to the former with the cracked case issue, but they replaced it
even after the warranty had expired at no cost. Not too many companies will do that.
switching products time after time.

RE: Delayed Shipment No Surprise
Ed @ 4/12/2001 10:27:44 AM #
If you are angry with Palm for the delay of the m500 series and are considering buying from another manufacturer just to show Palm how displeased you are, I'd like to point out that you will have a hard time finding a handheld company that hasn't been in a similar situation before.

The original Visor was announced months before they were shipping in quantity. Sony didn't handle the release of the first generation of the Clié particularly well, either. They said the main reason the original color Clié didn't make it to the U.S. was because of hardware shortages. And let's not even get started on Compaq's handling of the iPaq.

I'm not thrilled with Palm right now; I also have an m505 on order and I like to see it sometime soon. But don't cancel your m500 order just try to prove something to Palm.

---
Plenipotentiary
Palm Infocenter

Chief Marketing Moron

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/11/2001 5:05:20 PM #
Their "Chief Marketing Officer Satjiv Chahil" also was at Apple during their huge decline in the early 90s. Jobs gave him the boot. I remember this guy introducing products like the apple "pippen" which was worse than a total disaster in marketing and execution. I don't get why Palm wanted him-- Apple's marketing since he left has been pretty good. I frankly haven't seen any great palm marketing yet. It's a good thing that, just like the mac, the palm is good enough to sell itself without these marketers screwing it all up. It is clearly one thing to intro a product that won't be out for a few weeks but when you are in palm's situation and have TONS of current device inventory, it is a superior blunder. I guess the only good thing out of it all is that the Vx and IIIxe have been on sale lately and the bottom will really drop out on these models soon.

We've got Palm by the you know what's.

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/11/2001 6:20:58 PM #
Palm has definetely screwed the pooch this time. Anyone wanting to purchase one of the "older" Palm models should wait. Who knows how much longer this price fallout will occur. It you wait long enough (giving Palm enough rope to hang itself) you may be able to get a Palm handheld for a fraction of their once inflated price. As for those of us waiting for the Palm M500 series. Maybe if they received a flood of order cancellations, they'll get the picture that they can't screw around and expect their once loyal customers to stick around. There are plenty of handhelds on the market that have desirable features. This is one former Palm customer who is jumping ship to go with a handheld company that can produce quality products in a timely manner. So long Palm.

RE: We've got Palm by the you know what's.
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/11/2001 9:39:02 PM #
You piece of s____. You have no interest in the Palm Os. If you do , You don't have the guts to admit it. What are you afraid of, liking something and having it fail. Does that mean it was not a good device? Some time it is not the good products that survive; it is those that have the most money. Sadly people allow that to happen. Being behind the right thing is not a feature of the current generation.

RE: We've got Palm by the you know what's.
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/11/2001 10:34:25 PM #
What are you talking about?

"You piece of s____. You have no interest in the Palm Os. If you do , You don't have the guts to admit it. What are you afraid of, liking something and having it fail. Does that mean it was not a good device?"

That makes no sense at all. You obviously are so loyal to Palm that you are freaking blind!

Look they mess up, they admitted that they mess-up, stock and technology analytists reported that they mess-up. Now because of their ill-planned, stupid pre-anouncement of the m500 and m505 way before the actual product is available, they are faced with this huge inventory of older units that they can't get rid of. As a result, they have to back off the shipping date of the new units. How many way can you step in it?

Now, any customer (besides a completely blind loyalist like you) would and have the right to complain and maybe not do business with a company with such near-sighted goals.

RE: We've got Palm by the you know what's.
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/12/2001 1:47:28 AM #
To MR. "You piece of s___. DUh, did it occur to you that the post was adamant about leaving Palm as a company for a better manufacturer? DO you have enough mush inyour brain to realize that their are other manufacturers out their using the Palm OS? So before you try to sling and open your mouth, try to think a little to stop the s___ from flowing freely. Just because Palm may have goofed, doesn't mean users should not pursue other manufacuters of Palm OS devices to meet their needs. Try not to be so disgruntled, it's not good for your health. Some good reading and a thirst for knowledge is a great substitute for such outlandish lashes on this forum.

RE: We've got Palm by the you know what's.
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/12/2001 7:11:50 AM #
Many people are tired of reading negative blather about how Palm did this or did not do that. Save your energy because it does not matter much to those who looking for something interesting to read about these devices. I use my Palm Vx now and maybe will be using it after the 505 comes out. Despite the fact that I have some stock in the company, I am willing to wait and see what shakes out. I can't help to believe that some of these post come from those not even using a Palm device. They say they are; nevertheless, it might be wise to believe otherwise. Besides, most individuals are not using their device to its maximum capability anyway. Take a deep breath and relax.

RE: We've got Palm by the you know what's.
sub_tex @ 4/12/2001 10:11:35 AM #
you people should register on this forum.........i'm trying to follow the argument, but you're all anonymous.

i don't know if the argument above was 2 people going back and forth or 3 people.

heh.

RE: We've got Palm by the you know what's.
scaught @ 4/12/2001 11:16:19 AM #
oh my! so you might not be able to get your new palm on the day you were expecting it so you could brag to all the message board people. ohno! it might be a 2 week wait. are you new to the techno gadget/software/hardware realm? this shouldnt be that big of a deal, crybabies.

MS licks its chops?

mikecane @ 4/12/2001 12:09:45 PM #
Of course, a new generation of Pocket PCs are due later this year. And Palm's new units are delayed. Gates must be laughing. For now.

Me, I still want to see the m505 in person, in my hands, before switching.

RE: MS licks its chops?
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/12/2001 12:55:23 PM #
Yeah, like Microsoft *ever* released a product on time.

Probably why they stopped putting a year in the new product titles (little embarrassing to release your 95/98/2000 product half way into the year).


This message is for "Plenipotentiary"

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/12/2001 12:54:46 PM #
What does Palm mean when they say they will not be able to ship "in volume" in May? Does this mean that some units will be shipped to waiting customers? Does this mean that the people that have a unit on order may actually receive the unit on time? I'm just wondering what "in volume" means. Thanks.

Palm m505 Delay

I.M. Anonymous @ 4/12/2001 9:55:00 PM #
I was emailed an announcement from Palm direct that the Palm m505 was coming out. the next day I sold my Palm Vx and ordered 2 m505 unaware that they were not going to be available for months. I have been waiting - -unable to get any information--I have faxed and emailed Palm with NO response -- as if to say--who cares!

I wish Apple computer would come back out with a new Newton series!

RE: Palm m505 Delay
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/13/2001 9:14:35 AM #
Wow,

I too have been one pins and needles waiting for the palm m505 (ouch!). Did you say months.
I was expecting them to be out by the end of April and have been calling frequently to Best Buy
and Staples.

Thanks for the reality check!

RE: Palm m505 Delay
Ed @ 4/13/2001 9:29:07 AM #
Even before this most recent delay, we knew that the m505 wasn't going to be ready in April. When the m505 was announced, Palm said it would be available in May. Adding a "few weeks" to that, I think we're looking at June. I think you can ease off your local Best Buy and Staples for at least a month.

---
Plenipotentiary
Palm Infocenter
RE: Palm m505 Delay
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/16/2001 12:27:13 AM #
Is there any way to get shipment date information from a reliable source? I have no news from Palm since I pre-ordered my m505. The 'live' discussion on the Palm web site ('Community' section) seems to have been stopped: no new message there since April 9!?
Does Palm face so many comments they had to turn this system down? Fortunately, independent web sites still are here, and newsgroups too. But I'd like to get some official comments...
Skippi.

RE: Palm m505 Delay
I.M. Anonymous @ 4/16/2001 9:23:06 AM #
Franklin Covey has the 505 on pre-order and states that it will begin shipping the unit May 10th?

any thaughts?

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