Today Palm held its conference call for its Q1 FY 2010 results, during which it outlined the performance of its roster of smart phones. It’s a day that has been long awaited by investors, who are eager to see how the company’s flagship Palm Pre has actually been performing. And the results are in, sort of. Across its entire smartphone line Palm shipped 823,000 units this quarter, and its carrier partners “sold through” 810,000, of which the “vast majority” were the Palm Pre (the others were older Treos). In other words, Palm still isn’t talking.
Up until now, Palm has remained mum on the sales of the Pre — its flagship phone that launched with much fanfare earlier this summer, but was quickly overshadowed by the iPhone 3GS launch. That didn’t change today, but we can glean some information from Palm’s statements: the term “vast majority” doesn’t really mean much, but assuming at least 60% of the sell-through figures were from the Pre, that would equate to more than 486,000 units. That’s more than what some have been expecting (a Bloomberg report cited an analyst predicting 400k units sold, while a MarketWatch report put the consensus at about 500K), and Palm’s overall smartphone sales beat analyst expectations.
Still, it’s hard to look back at major Palm investor Roger McNamee’s March, 2009 prediction that the Pre would obliterate the iPhone and think that the Pre’s launch was everything Palm hoped for. Let’s revisit that beautiful quote:
You know the beautiful thing: June 29, 2009, is 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.—Roger McNamee
Granted, everyone knew this statement was utterly ridiculous as soon as McNamee uttered it, but the Pre has failed to really reach blockbuster status by even the most generous definition. There’s a reason why Palm is not touting its sales figures the way Apple did when the iPhone 3GS sold 1 million units within five days of its release and 5.2 million in the quarter.
During today’s call Palm stressed that its success isn’t tied to a single device — rather, it’s about Palm’s webOS platform, which is now going to serve as the operating system for every future Palm release. It revealed in the conference call that more carriers are signing up for the Palm. And it will have a second shot at a smash-hit this fall, when it releases its smaller (and cheaper) Pixi in November. And a third shot after that, and then a fourth shot. Maybe one of these days it will get it right.
I love twitter. Its the only place you can meet someone new with a mispelling
I have a Pre and it’s a great device. To those who are on the fence, I’d encourage you to play with one in person and see what you think. Numbers aside, WebOS is very slick and it’s an easy platform to develop for (by the way, Palm is not paying app developers).
I’ve had 4 Pres. And this one is on it’s last legs already. I hope T-Mobile buys Sprint so I can use an Android.
Just wait for the HTC Hero coming out on Sprint in mid-October. It’s supposed to be the best Android phone yet!
I agree. From what I read the Sense UI will be pretty slick offering a lot of actual phone features that the iPhone lacks and a less peculiar app approval process. I am really looking forward to this phone and being able to use Google Voice.
HTC Hero should come out on Oct 11!
That pre looks cool in the ads… after my blackberry contract runs out I would be more prone to get a pre than an iphone.. the pre looks sharp..
Since its all about Web OS; how many devices can they make without an update to web os before the web os market is saturated.
Pre expensive
Pixxi cheap
what else is left for them to do they have a slider and a candybar phone what else can they deliver that doesn’t cannibalized one of them.
Unless they are going to make different versions of Web OS this whole thing seems like a minor target audience.
Ahh one word (or is it two?) Blackberry. This article fails as it’s written through iPhone eyes. Apple is a product company and so thus did a “product” – the iPhone. Palm is tackling this as an OS company and will role out multiple devices. No Apples to Apples here.
What do you mean “without an update to Web OS”?
One of the coolest features of Web OS is the fact that they’ve added ‘over the air’ updates to it. Web OS has already had a couple of ‘over the air’ updates.
Really, check out a Pre. You will like it!!
They have basically only released OTA security updates and bug fixes. They haven’t added any significant new features.
So in 4 months they have had a couple of OTA updates that have added tons of fixes for annoyances and made a lot of improvements, and you aren’t satisfied? Wow, you really expect a lot. Compare the patch history of iPhone with Pre. iPhone didn’t have it’s first major update until a full year after the device came out. It’s list of minor updates and things it fixed is smaller for the first year the Pre’s list is for the first few months. Oh, and lets not forget that Flash is coming in the next month or two. Too bad iPhone won’t be getting that in the forseeable future.
I mean Web OS 2.0 a major update that would drastically change things within the os
big success. palm is a great buyout candidate for nokia or ericsson! eod thats the story.
Last I heard, the Pixi isn’t going to have WiFi; good job shooting yourself in the foot once again Palm.
Palm has said that the Pixi platform could support WiFi, but in negotiations with Sprint, they didn’t want it….
I think Sprint wants hardcore users to look at the Pre, and casual users can get the Pixi. Seems like a good option, I don’t care about the WiFi personally.
I agree regarding WiFi. I leave it off almost all of the time as 3G seems much faster. And Wifi of course eats battery life faster.
Really who cares about wi-fi? i have a pre never turn it on. If im paying for mobile internet I dont know call me crazy but I WILL USE IT!
I mean when somebody is home who would rather be on a phone then their laptop or desktop?
WHO CARES ABOUT WI-FI? Poll please how many actually use wi-fi on their phone?
I use wifi on the iphone quite a bit, because 1) it’s often faster than the 3g or edge I get, and 2) I don’t always get good signals inside buildings. If there’s wifi, I’ll use that inside a building. Additionally, the skype client (and probably everything else for a while) will only put through calls using wifi.
Because WiFi is faster than any current cellular data rate?
Why would you NOT use the fastest available connection, if it’s available?
I have a Pre and i love it. not affiliated with palm or sprint in any way. Really – the pre is awesome.
I hope they make it b/c i really don’t want to have apple all in my grill telling me what to do!
Yeah I use the wifi a lot too. It’s much easier to carry around the house (in my pocket) and quicker to turn on for a quick bit of info.
The ways in which the iphone permeates everyday living are many. I’ll do a quick check of the weather in the morning, use it to check realtime arrival info for the next train (local transit) and I’ve purchased software for my Logitech squeezebox (mp3 streaming) system that lets the iPhone function as a remote control for a multi-room stereo system (the $10 app I got for my iphone is far superior to the hardware remote controls that cost a $100+ from logitech). Once you start using it in this way, you wonder how or why you ever got by without it. It doesn’t replace the laptop/desktop, but it augments them significantly. It’s also superior to the laptop for ebook reading in bed and other such activities.
So yeah, wifi for me is a big deal.
AT&T vs Sprint. Selling world-wide vs selling in Greenland. Selling software on Linux vs selling on Windows. The playing field is just different – iPhone has an advantage just by being with AT&T. You have to put at least some level of blame on the playing field given to the device, and not JUST the device itself.
It’s funny that every time that I want to read some stupid Palm bashing, I just go to techcrunch and enjoy it
This site’s running great using all OSX servers, have to say
Because it is trying to to take about $200 million from the public in a stock offering, Palm has every reason to obfuscate the Pre’s success or lack therof.
Where is the SEC when you need them?