So, Palm. They staged a comeback in 2009, and they did so well that I even called it (along with Motorola) the joint comeback of the year. They had the opportunity there to turn the mobile world on its head, thanks to that brilliant, space-age, super whizzy WebOS interface. It’s just a shame that they so clearly haven’t. According to The Register, they have performed better than the first quarter of 2009, but they’re far from being out of the woods yet.
In fact, it seems like the next quarter’s not going to be a happy one at all.
First, the positive: last year, at this time, Palm’s balance sheet showed a $95m net loss on revenues of $90m, which is not even good in the slightest. Over this past quarter, however, the balance sheet’s shown net losses of $18.5m on $349.9m in revenues. And that’s much, much healthier, but, let’s be honest, it’s still a loss. And, er, that’s not a good thing. Or, as CEO Jon Rubinstein put it, the performance in the last quarter was “deeply disappointing to me”.
It’s a shame, really, because when the Palm Pre was launched, it looked like it had the chops to capture the minds of the mobile-buying public, thanks to that brilliant WebOS interface. It had a load of potential, but it’s just unfortunate that it went on to not live up to that potential. I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly sure why it hasn’t grabbed people’s attention; if you’d have asked me, when it was first launched, I’d have said it would fly off shelves, and everyone would want one. And I would’ve been wrong, since it’s failed to gain traction against its two biggest rivals, the iPhone and Android (seen at its best in the upcoming HTC Desire).
That’s led many to speculate whether Palm will be the target of a takeover bid. Rubinstein expertly dodged the issue, giving that old response, that they’d consider any reasonable offers. So we’ll have to see what happens, but I hope they get it sorted, because despite you lot not buying it, I really rather like the Palm Pre.
Whatever happens, though, the next quarter’s going to be a toughie, so we’ll have to see how well Palm can weather the storm…
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