Palm "deeply disappointed" by financial results

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 19 Mar 2010 at 09:06

Palm has proclaimed itself "deeply disappointed" with its third quarter financial results, despite losses narrowing significantly.

The smartphone maker recorded a net loss of $22 million in the third quarter, which looks positively festive compared to the $98 million it lost in the same period last year.

Revenues of $349.9 million were also above the company's estimates of between $300 million and $320 million.

If we could have launched at Verizon prior to the Droid, I think we would have gotten the attention the Droid got. And since I believe we have a better product, I think we could have even done better

However, while Palm shipped 960,000 smartphones to partners in the third quarter, only 408,000 of those were sold to customers, leaving stockpiles of Pre and Pixi handsets in warehouses.

As a result, the company predicts that fourth quarter earning are likely to level out at around $150 million - less than half of what had been expected by Wall Street.

"Our recent underperformance has been extremely disappointing to me personally," said Jon Rubinstein, Palm's chief executive.

"If we could have launched at Verizon prior to the Droid, I think we would have gotten the attention the Droid got. And since I believe we have a better product, I think we could have even done better," he added.