Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) is one company whose fundamentals are making one statement, while the stock chart's technical indicators are arguing something entirely different.

A late roll-out of the Palm Pre with new carriers has sparked concerned about disappointing Palm results in the quarters ahead, and particularly during the upcoming holiday season. Moreover, any hint that FY2010 revenue growth that will not exceed a 100% gain will likely send PALM's shares tumbling.

We saw at least five directional changes throughout the day in the stock market, so the close still left people wondering what the day really was. The housing data was weaker than expected, and today marked the first day that the VIX went under 30. Here are today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,476.36 -27.72 (-0.33%)
S&P 500 908.34 -1.37 (-0.15%)
Nasdaq 1,734.54 +2.18 (0.13%)

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Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM), the handheld PDA pioneer that has reportedly been on its deathbed several times in recent years, is about to launch the hotly-anticipated Pre on the Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) sometime this summer. From all accounts, the Pre may take on Apple, Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone as its best competition yet.

Would Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) ever want to immediately establish a footing in the wireless handset business? You bet -- and rumors have been feverishly circulating for years now on just when and how the global PC maker would enter the handset biz. After hiring Motorola's Ron Garriques over two years ago, the company still has not directly announced any wireless telephone products.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) reported a dismal third quarter, losing $95 million or 89 cents per share. Although the company's Treo handheld wireless handset products are being beat into the ground by competitors like Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL), its bargain basement Treo Centro helped save the day last quarter. Not so much in the latest quarter.

But good news is coming. The company (and a whole community of pre-release fans) is expecting the new Palm Pre smartphone to be the device that would save the company in the current quarter. The new handset, which is shaping up to be a true, functional competitor to the iPhone, looks like a handset worthy of that stated comparison.

If Palm (NASDAQ: PALM) wants to make a dent in the smartphone market (seemingly dominated by Apple [NASDAQ: AAPL], thanks to the iPhone), it needs its entry into the smartphone world -- the Pre -- to perform well. Roger McNamee, a Palm investor, believes that the Pre will make the iPhone history.

With the first batch of iPhone contracts set to expire in June, Palm is targeting a same-month release for its smartphone. McNamee believes that on 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." McNamee contends that this scenario will come to fruition because the Pre will be "the coolest product on the market."

The once proud Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola (NYSE: MOT) has never fully recovered from the collapse of the technology sector in 2000. From its peak of over $57 in February 2000, MOT lost 75% of its market cap the next 12 months and surrendered another 50% over the following two years.

The stock is currently trading at $3.90 after reaching a low for the last 52 weeks of $3. The stock traded at the high for the period in mid-November, reaching $12.59.

While Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) are locked in their battle for smartphone supremacy, a new entry into the market has grabbed headlines.

Palm's (NASDAQ: PALM) brand new touch-screen smartphone -- the Pre -- was the surprise event at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Among other things, the Pre uses the Palm's Web OS, which supposedly can consolidate data from multiple Web sources.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has had a hard knock life recently. The third-largest wireless carrier has seen hundreds of thousands of customers leave it for greener pastures in the last few years. Having the Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone go to another carrier was part of that problem. However, the impending launch of the Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) Pre touchscreen smartphone will help reverse that situation a little bit.

Investors are betting that the struggling Palm joining the struggling Sprint for this product launch will help both companies recover from their respective slumps. Elevation Partners has dumped hundreds of millions of dollars into Palm's lap recently as the "do or die" smartphone maker attempts to resuscitate itself. This is not some flighty money -- this comes with some serious backing by some impressive investors. It was a risky bet launching the arguably most important product in the last five years on Sprint's network with the shape the carrier is in, losing customers and all. Someone out there believes in this partnership. Do you?

Best Buy, Inc. (NYSE: BBY) may be the initial retail partner to carry what is turning out to be a the most talked-about wireless handset since the iPhone made its debut over two years ago. The Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ:PALM) Palm Pre, which will initially only be available on the Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) network, will benefit immensely from finding the right retail partner to boost sales.

So far, it's too hard to tell how well the Pre will do against the iPhone and other handsets based on Windows Mobile or Android -- but early previews are encouraging. The Pre packs a decent amount of horsepower with one slick design -- and it would be amusing to see it marketed alongside the iPhone at Best Buy. Best Buy was also the first retailer partner to be able and sell the iPhone last September, so scoring the Pre would be another win for the retailer.

Can the Pre save Palm from oblivion? That's hard to imagine, but this single product launch is probably the most important in the history of the company. Without a knockout product that sells like gangbusters, Palm may not have much left in its intellectual or technological arsenal. It's a big gamble, but a gamble, the company must make. Best Buy's large hand in the Pre's upcoming sales will be a huge boon to both Palm and Sprint.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas was last week. In past years, just the anticipation of the world's largest electronics trade show was enough move technology stocks higher.

That was not the case this year, though, as investors grapple with a weak economy, frozen credit, plunging home values and rising unemployment. Just paying the bills and keeping one's head above water seems to be the order of the day. The market sold off hard last week, and not even the CES could pull it out of its funk. Still, there were some bright spots.

Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) gave its investors a taste of the old days as its shares soared 34% after its new touch-screen phone and mobile operating system garnered admiration from analysts and attendees at the CES.

Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) has joined up with Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) to again keep the once-innovative smartphone maker in business. It was widely rumored that the budget-priced Palm Centro smartphone was the single product that kept Palm on life support in 2008, and the just-announced Palm Pre may stake claim to providing the same status for Palm in 2009.

The new Palm Pre, which will launch exclusively on Sprint Nextel very soon (no firm date yet), is Palm's most radical smartphone development in over five years. Since the Palm Treo 600 launched in 2003, Palm's product designs, operating system and overall consumer marketing have been boring and staid. Palm's financial results during the last few years have borne this out. With all the state-of-the-art smartphone competition these days, Palm was looked at as a complete, obsolete dinosaur. Can the new Pre save it?

The device has already been called the "Palm iPhone" by many after it was announced yesterday. It has a full touchscreen with just a single button (trackball, actually) on the face. But the Pre also includes a slide-down full keyboard, something that has deterred many from the iPhone so far (even with its tremendous success in spite of that).

Sprint is probably glad to have something exclusive for the time being, as well as a much talked-about smartphone that may draw in customers. But, when Palm CEO Ed Colligan indicated that "this platform is going to be the basis for innovation at Palm for a decade to come," Palm needs to recognize that it won't even exist in half that time if it doesn't continuously step up and play with the newer, faster and more well-funded competitors.