“Last year, Palm thought it had all the pieces for a turnaround in the market it pioneered: A new CEO known for making the iPod a household name, a sleek new smart phone called the Pre and fresh, intuitive operating software,” Rachel Metz reports for The Associated Press.
MacDailyNews Take: We knew better. First.
Eventually, so did these guys:
• The Motley Fool: Palm’s Pre appears doomed, dead on arrival – April 14, 2009
• CNBC’s Goldman: Palm hype far outpaces hope – April 30, 2009
• Jason Schwarz: Palm Pre is Microsoft Zune, the sequel – May 21, 2009
• Wired’s Sorrel: Palm’s Pre is no more an iPhone killer than Microsoft’s Zune was an iPod killer – May 26, 2009
• CrunchGear: Palm’s new ‘Pre’ is gonna bomb – May 28, 2009
• PC World’s David Coursey: Five reasons why the Palm Pre won’t prevail – June 02, 2009
• Jim Cramer: Apple shares could once again hit $200; Dump Palm – July 24, 2009
• Analysts: Beleaguered Palm faces rough times ahead – September 21, 2009
• Analyst: Beleaguered Palm may be acquisition target – February 03, 2010
And, without Tony Fadell, there’d be no iPod.
Metz continues, “Several analysts say Palm Inc. might not remain an independent phone maker for more than a year or two. It just could be too late to stop the momentum enjoyed by Apple Inc.’s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerrys — not to mention a growing crop of phones running Google Inc.’s Android software. Palm spokesman Derick Mains said the company had no comment.”
MacDailyNews Take: Here’s an interesting progression:
From:
• ”We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.” – Palm CEO Ed Colligan, November 20, 2006
• ”Why would we price ‘Pre’ less than iPhone when we have a significantly better product?” – Palm CEO Ed Colligan, January 10, 2009
• “June 29, 2009 is the two-year anniversary of the first shipment of the iPhone. Not one of those people will still be using an iPhone a month later.” – Palm backer Roger McNamee, March 05, 2009
To:
• ”No comment.” – Palm spokesman Derick Mains on the future of the company, March 10, 2010
We like to call it, “The Death of Hubris in Sunnyvale, CA.”
Metz continues, “Consumers haven’t really embraced the products. Palm sold 810,000 phones in the quarter that ended Aug. 28. In the next quarter, sales fell to 573,000. And Palm’s latest report, due March 18, is not expected to be bright. Palm recently cut its forecast for that period, citing sluggish sales. Discouraged investors have sliced the company’s stock price by more than half since the Pre hit stores.”
“It takes Palm an entire quarter to sell as many phones as Apple sells in a less than a week,” Metz reports.
“Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek thinks the company could keep spending its cash — it had $590 million at the end of its most recently reported quarter — and run out of gas in a year or two,” Metz reports. “Or, it could try to conserve funds and angle to be bought out. But Misek thinks a buyer could be dissuaded by the year or two it might take to get webOS working on new phones.”
“Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu thinks Palm could be purchased in the next year by a company such as Motorola or Dell Inc.,” Metz reports. “Ultimately, Wu thinks the smart phone market will look like the PC market, which was crowded with competition early on but eventually produced a short list of winners and a smattering of losers. ‘Palm’s almost on that list of losers,’ he said.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: “Smattering” is the wrong word. Metz likely meant “plethora.” There will be many losers vs. the very short list of winners.
You’ll be back on the beach in no time, Jon.
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