Tumblr 101: Tips And Tricks To Get Started
WATCH: Shredding On The Google Guitar!
Palm stock now worthless, vultures begin circling overhead
The story of Palm isn't about a bad product -- hey, the Pre and WebOS are actually pretty cool -- but it is about a laundry list of bad decisions and bad breaks that may have ultimately doomed the company. Palm stock crashed to 4 dollars over the weekend, and with some analysts valuing it at zero dollars, a great deal of speculation about the future of the brand ensued.What the heck happened, here? John Gruber at Daring Fireball linked to a clear and comprehensive analysis of Palm's current woes, written by someone with considerable insight into the situation, Jean-Louis Gassée (of Apple Newton, BeOS, and Palmsource fame).
According to Gassée, Palm's poorly-timed unveiling of the Pre (just before Apple announced a major iPhone price drop) wasn't the only problem. Failing to strike a deal with Verizon before the Motorola Droid came on the scene hurt too. Then Palm made a bad situation worse by sending out tons of extra inventory to retailers -- we're talking hundreds of thousands of additional handsets -- in an effort to push additional sales of the Pre. That backfired, as you might expect, leaving Palm to take a loss on over a million unsold phones. It also didn't help that Palm put so much time and promotional muscle behind an iTunes syncing feature that never fully worked, and locked them into a losing battle with Apple.
Things look bleak for Palm. The crowded smartphone market, with heavy-hitters like Apple, Google, and now Microsoft's Windows Phone 7, means there might not even be much value left in the Palm name, let alone the technology. Will some hero (or some fool, depending on who you ask) step in to buy the company?
For more details on this sad story, proceed to Gassée's post. Our friends at Engadget also have an in-depth plan for Palm's salvation, but it sounds a bit farfetched to me.
Comments
7
Subscribe to commentsrickhamilton620Mar 22nd 2010 12:38PM
It's a shame too, as Palm's innovation in this space is legendary. Hopefully, they can find their groove.
DiddleMar 22nd 2010 1:45PM
Palm tried to wedge a phone into their PDAs, which made sense at the time, but rather than following what the public wanted, they just continued along their path with products which, while they sold to the masses who wanted a "smart" phone, were simply a heap. I had a Palm Treo 750 and I hated it. When I read about the Palm Pre, I knew it was just a matter of time. Hopefully Google WILL NOT buy them because that is a sinking ship not worth being saved.
JeffOMar 22nd 2010 2:32PM
Emphasis on "laundry list of bad decisions". Palm has a long history of being proprietary, not being willing to work with 3rd-party corporations trying to build value-added features, and otherwise climbing out on a limb. So the limb broke off. I cannot feel sorry for them.
The technology they engineered was great. I hope their techies go on to lucrative futures.
Palm sync had a bad habit of breaking when syncing with Exchange, but it must've been pretty stable otherwise, or it wouldn't have rocketed so high and stayed there so long.
The problem seems to be managment decisions. If you isolate yourself, you may feel protected, but you can end up getting left behind by the market.
motangMar 22nd 2010 3:02PM
I am so sad about this news, I got my pre not too long ago just because for WebOS! I do hope they would survive and thrive as innovations brought on by the WebOS is needed. Also the competition is always good.
SchusterdadMar 22nd 2010 4:04PM
The problems at Palm go way back. I was a LOYAL Palm user: Treo 300 -> Treo 600 -> Treo 650 -> Centro. My wife jumped in at the Treo 600 and followed the same Palm loving path until we both got burned by the Centro. What's a phone user to do when their Treo 650 is 2+ years old and there aren't any new products on the horizon? Well, you buy a brand new Treo 650 in a colorful case! Only this time it's called "Centro" and instead of fixing the OS crashes and the glitches and the idiosyncrasies, Palm invested in a new cheaper plastic case and nice squishy keyboard that's like typing on marshmallows - certainly THAT's what the people are clamoring for! Then WebOS shows up late, acting like a nerd with a six-pack of light beer... The only new development is that the long downhill slide is picking up speed.
KaushikMar 23rd 2010 1:18AM
Palm is not dead. Articles like these will lead to it's death. Beta news makes some great points.
http://www.betanews.com/joewilcox/article/Palms-not-dead-so-why-write-its-epitaph/1269296921
dullthudMar 23rd 2010 12:51PM
Someone will buy Palm for their patents, if nothing else. With all the lawsuits flying around these days, they could be worth a fortune in a courtroom. Not to mention future product development.