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Palm sells less than half the phones shipped during winter |
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Written by Ivan Todorovic
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Thursday, 18 March 2010 |
 Palm reports a dramatic fall in smartphone sales for its winter quarter. The company shipped 960,000 smartphones between December and February but only sold 408,000 of those devices. Its shipments were exactly triple what it had supplied a year earlier but were countered by a 15 percent drop in actual sell-through to users at carriers like O2, Sprint and Verizon. It still managed to generate a $47 million gross profit but in practice suffered a $102.8 million net loss, wider than the loss in winter 2009 and more than twice the $45.5 million lost in the fall.
Much of the widened loss may come from the increased shipments adding costs that weren't matched by revenue from phone sales. The current figures were nonetheless higher than the recently lowered guidance and may have represented signs of a bounce back in performance. Most sales were actually for the less expensive Pixi (shown above), contributing to a drop in the average price.
The company doesn't foresee a quick turnaround and still expects to burn through cash this year, but it should continue to operate through the rest of the year without needing additional help.
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