The New Palm Pre

[kstar]

There is some serious potential litigation in store for Palm re Pre; Apple has already rattled its sabre a bit - it involves Palm's use of Apple's heavily protected multi-touch family of patents. Google already, according to reports, backed multi-touch out of Android OS.

The Pre has not even been released yet, so I can't now imagine it putting any pressure on Apple to do anything, IMHO.

I think the next iPhone firmware will provision for some apps to run in the background, based on what I have read.

Pre sounds like a great phone and I hope it can provide legitimate competition to iPhone and the Android OS.

FWIW.

[serge944]

I've been a Treo fan for a while, but don't like WM. So I jumped ship and picked up a Nokia e71. Really thrilled with the phone - all metal housing, fast OS, all of the tech. you need. Smaller non-touch screen than the treo though...

$330 unlocked on amazon...works on any GSM network.

[fxeditor]

I am looking forward the Pre. I am one of the few who doesn't like the Iphone. While it's a great piece of hardware I think it is just too locked down in it's software for my tastes.

[red-beard]

I guess I'd like to see the Pre in person. The basic design matches exactly what I need.

I've been running a WM phone for about 6 months and I find the OS fine. I don't like the design of the phone I'm using. I would seriously consider a Palm Pro. All the features of my present phone, and a real thumbable qwerty keyboard. And for "serious" typing, I have a Redfly interface.

I tell ya though, if they release a WM Pre, I will buy!

[jyl]

There won't be a Windows Mobile Pre. Only their new OS, "webOS". It is very cool.

[red-beard]

I'm not so sure. They have abandoned PalmOS definitely. They say they are concentrating on WebOS and WM. See below:

http://www.treocentral.com/content/Stories/2399-1.htm

We're listening to Ed Colligan talk to investors about the state of Palm and what some of their plans are going forward. Some interesting tidbits:

• There will be no more PalmOS devices released by Palm (excepting the Centro getting released on other carriers). They're focused on webOS and Windows Mobile.
• Not only will Palm have an app store at launch, they're not locking down the device so you can only install apps from their app store. You'll be able to "side load" apps directly over USB or over the air from any provider. Good news!
• While Palm can't comment on how long exclusivity will last with Sprint, they are able to say that outside the US they have partnerships going with other carriers. Colligan specifically mentioned North America (We already knew that will be Bell Canada for sure), Latin America (multiple carriers) and Europe (we strongly suspect that will be Vodafone).
• Speaking of that exclusivity, Palm hopes that a strong launch with Sprint will attract other US carriers. He specifically mentioned that Palm would be looking at releasing on other carriers in the 2010 timeframe.
• As far as applications go, Colligan said that there are a few they feel they need to have at launch. Specifically, he mentioned Epocrates, a great medical app.
• On the issue of PATENTS, Colligan made sure to note that there are no pending legal actions with Apple right now. More pointedly, he noted that Palm has 15 years worth of patents and that in patent fights often go like this:

The reason you do that is to have a defensive position. It's like two little porcupines going around, and you don't want to touch each other because you might get stung. You peacefully coexist and everything's OK and you keep working together. We're very respectful about people's intellectual property, we believe we're huge innovators and have been for a lot of years and that this product has an enormous number of innovations in it. If something does happen there, we do have the portfolio, we think to defend ourselves and to be successful doing that. But nothing's happened to date, so we're really just focused on getting the product out the door.

That about does it for the newsy-bits. Colligan also expressed happiness with their relationship with Sprint, noting that despite their woes, Sprint has over 50 million subscribers and there are more PalmOS users on Sprint than on any other network.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by jyl

Palm will definitely be solvent for long enough. Should have appx $325MM cash in bank after latest infusion, only buring about $20-30MM/qtr.

More info, pretty detailed, w/ links to more:
http://palmaddict.typepad.com/palmaddicts/2009/01/little-things-a.html
http://i.gizmodo.com/5126870/in-a-nutshell-palm-pre-vs-iphone-vs-g1
http://technologizer.com/2009/01/09/palm-pre-vs-apple-iphone-3g/

Sounds like not going to be exclusive to Sprint for too long (6 months?). Doubt VZ adopts it in 09 (they're always so slow on new hardware), imagine T sticks w/ iPhone, but T-Mobile needs a cool phone too?

The WebOS sounds very slick and looks very pretty. Might pressure Apple to allowing third-party apps to have background processing or push. I'm not sure why Apple has taken so long to add cut/paste, but I guess they'll do it soon now. The screen looks smaller than the iPhone's, I'd prefer larger as many webpages are just too hard to read even w/ pinch/zoom. I like the curved look and really like a physical keyboard.

Palm said cash used in operations in the quarter will be $95 million to $100 million, which bring its total cash position down to $215 million to $220 million. Palm said that should be enough cash to meet working capital under its current operating plan - but that it nonetheless is evaluating options for raising more cash.

http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2009/03/03/palm-q3-revs-miss-burning-cash-seeking-more-capital/

They Company is riding on the Pre, IMNSHO.

[red-beard]

I will seriously consider the Pre if:

There is an unlocked GSM version
The version is 3G, including the 1800 MHZ band (T-Mobile)

I almost bought a Treo Pro over the weekend, but the 3G will not work on the T-Mobile network. So I would be limited to GPRS/EDGE unless using Wifi. Not entirely a deal killer, but I'm also seriously watching the money right now!

[jyl]

That's a big nasty cash burn. Wow. Will sell shares bought by the PE firm in the last round. Agreement allows PALM to force sale and PALM keeps proceeds >$3.25/share. Should bring in $50-60MM. So $265-280MM, that is about 2.6 qtrs of cash burn at last qtr's rate. If last qtr's increased burn was indeed due to delayed Treo Pro, maybe future cash burn is less, and they have 5-6 qtrs of cash burn. 5 feels a lot more comfortable than 2. Interestingly, PALM stock is up on the news. Agree, stock is all about the Pre and WebOS. Excluding those, company has no value.

[TerryH]

My cell phone cost $39 retail and if I lose it or it breaks I don't care. As luck would have it, 4 years and no one has stolen it. It has bounced a few times on the pavement without any problems. I would be too paranoid to walk around with a $600 phone.