As Palm fades, Apple may get new business

Posted Sep 19th 2008 11:45AM by Douglas McIntyre
Filed under: Competitive Strategy, Apple Inc (AAPL), Palm Inc (PALM)

Palm's (NASDAQ: PALM) earnings had an odd twist to them. The company's revenue rose very slightly to $366.9 million. But unit sales moved up 49% to 1,029,000 units. Palm's yield on each of its handset plummeted.

Palm also lost a modest amount of money -- $42 million. Investors were more troubled by the company's forecast for its current quarter. According to Reuters, "Palm said on Thursday it expected its revenues to be down for the current quarter ending in November but declined to give details."

Investors and the media have been predicting a Palm bankruptcy for some time. It is hard to make a case for the company regaining it footing with competing smartphone companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

The trouble at Palm does offer Apple a unique opportunity. Palm's four million handset sales a year are significant next to Apple's iPhone sales. If Apple can capture a large number of customers as they exit their relationships with Palm it could help push a "hockey stick" move up in iPhone sales.

Someone is going to take all of that Palm business. Given the rise of the iPhone, it is likely to be Apple and that could help the company's earnings.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.

Tags: AAPL, iPhone, PALM

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-19-2008 @ 2:27PM

TX CHL Instructor said...

Interesting... I'm planning to ditch my iPhone and go back to a Palm-based phone, since the iPhone doesn't handle email all that well, and there are a number of applications I already have for the Palm that I don't feel like buying again (from the one and only place you can buy ANYTHING for the iPhone).

The iPhone is sorta neat, but not sufficiently so to justify standing in line, much less camping outside an AT&T store overnight (the news of Apple Freaks doing just that is what convinced me not to 'upgrade' to the 3G). The 'coolness' factor doesn't matter as much as the lack of capability and the restrictions on what you can run on it. Or, for that matter, the relatively limited AT&T network.

Hang in there, Palm. I'll bet I'm not the only one coming back.

9-19-2008 @ 2:48PM

Constable Odo said...

Palm fail? That's impossible. Whoever heard of a completely Open Source OS device failing. There are no restrictions of any app type. If you desire to develop an app it will run on a Palm device and everyone will be completely happy. No controls, nobody to police you. The iPhone platform is like putting shackles on a world-class sprinter. No way is he gonna win with those heavy chains of restriction holding him back.

Palm must have about 25,000 apps by now and they're all claimed to be far superior to any iPhone app. You can have a dozen programs of any type multitasking in the background. How can Palm be losing market share? Don't worry, once all the disgruntled ex-iPhone developers leave Apple, they'll go to Palm and teach Apple a thing or two about how to run a proper platform. Go Palm, stage that comeback.

9-19-2008 @ 5:38PM

william said...

Good bye Palm, good riddance. Your ancient software sucks and you haven't actually designed anything good in many years. Treo came from the Handspring acquisition. Palm isn't just a corpse, it is a mere shadow of a corpse. Oh, BTW, the Palm software is nothing special at all. And next to the iPhone, the Treo looks like an old rotary dial. "Come in here Watson, I want you" next to the iPhone.

9-24-2008 @ 12:10AM

Steven said...

When my T-Mobile Palm started to fail (display pixels going) I decided to jump ship to ATT. I could have gotten a Treo 680 or Centro, but compared to to the iPhone, Palm now looks too old and awkward. I'm not interested in a Windows mobile Palm, and T-Mobile seems not to be interested in any form of Palm device, despite roomers early this year of a T-Mo version of the Centro. No Palm on T-Mobile finally pushed me and my wife over to ATT and the iPhone. And I haven't looked back.