Palm's Financial Slide Continues Despite Smartphone Gains
Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
Palm Inc. hasn't yet managed to turn around its declining fortunes, posting a quarterly net loss of US$840,000 on Monday.
The loss compares to net income of $16.5 million for the same period last year.
The results for the first quarter ending Aug. 31 continue a rough patch for Palm, which is posting gains in smartphone sales that don't seem to make up for the downturn in demand for PDAs (personal digital assistants), Palm's traditional mainstay.
Palm sold 689,000 smartphones during the quarter, up 21 percent compared to last year. Smartphone revenue was $302 million, a 12 percent increase over last year.
Revenue for the period was $360.8 million, up from $355.7 million in the same quarter last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected slightly worse news. The consensus from Thomson was earnings per share of $0.08 and Palm posted one cent better, with earnings per share, on a non-GAAP basis excluding one-time charges, of $0.09. That compares to $0.21 cents, on a non-GAAP basis, for the same period last year.
Last week Palm introduced a smartphone brand aimed at enticing traditional low-end phone users to upgrade into the smartphone category. That introduction followed an announcement that the company wouldn't roll out a smartphone companion project that was heavily criticized in the market.
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