14 DAY TRIAL // It seems that Palm is not doing so well when it comes to its financial results, yet the company says that it is well positioned for the launch of the highly expected Pre. At the same time, it seems that we should be able to see a nice range of smartphones released to the market this year featuring the maker's new webOS platform.
Palm hasn't provided a date for the launch of Pre, yet it has mentioned that the company is currently working on the final details of both the handset and its operating system. At the same time, the mobile phone is being certified by Sprint, the carrier that will launch Pre exclusively in the United States, and the company is preparing to ramp up the manufacturing of the device.
Palm Chief Executive Edward Colligan, reports Cnet, said the following regarding the release of Pre, “We are under no illusions about the hard work that remains with bringing the Pre to market,” yet he also added, “I have never had more confidence in Palm's ability to bring a new product to market on time and at scale.”
Palm has been working closely with Sprint on the launch of Pre, mainly to avoid delaying the handset the way it happened with Treo Pro. At the same time, Colligan also noted that the company would need a seamless execution on the Pre launch, while also stating that it worked closely with developers for readying applications for launch.
Although no name was officially unveiled, Palm seems to have “excellent options” when it comes to possible European partners for the launch of Pre on the continent. In addition, it seems that an entire WebOS ecosystem is planed, which means that more devices to run on the platform will be heading our way.
The financial results reported by the company don't look as good as one would expect. Palm registered a net loss of $98 million, around 89 cents a share, while also reporting revenues of $90.6 million, significantly lower than the $312 million it had registered in the same quarter a year before. The company's smartphone revenue went down 72 percent to $77.5 million.
“With these financial results it's easy to forget the progress we've made,” said Colligan, yet he also added that the company was on track strategically speaking. At the same time, Chief Financial Officer Doug Jeffries added that the launch of Pre and its webOS platform were expected to greatly improve the company's performance. For what it's worth, Palm ended the third quarter with $219.4 million in cash, and Jeffries stated that the company had the resources to market Pre as it should.