Palm's stock has been hammered this week as Palm released updated projections that showed the company just isn't selling as many webOS units as they thought they would. The news sent investors running and Palm's stock has tanked.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Palm boss Jon Rubinstein sent a letter to Palm employees detailing the problem and letting them know the plans he has in place going forward.
Rubinstein says, "our softer than expected performance is due to slower than expected customer adoption of our products, which in turn has prompted our U.S. carrier partners to put additional orders on hold for the time being."
Palm needs new hardware. They need a new handset that resembles an iPhone or BlackBerry Storm in specs. Offering these teeny weeny 3.1" displays while everyone else is at 3.5" to 3.7" just doesn't cut it.
Rubinstein goes on to say, "To accelerate sales, we initiated Project JumpStart nearly three weeks ago. Since then, nearly two hundred Palm Brand Ambassadors, supplemented by Palm employees from Sunnyvale, have been training Verizon sales reps across the U.S. on our products. Early results from the stores have already shown improvement on product knowledge and sales week over week. You may have also seen a growing number of Palm ads on billboards, bus shelters, buses, and subway stations—all getting the word out about Palm."
Weak. I guess you have no choice, but this is not a long term solution. New hardware, and a faster OS. That's what Palm needs.
"Our goals are taking longer than expected to achieve, but I am still confident that our talented team has what it takes to get the job done."
It maybe the case the Jon Rubinstein is not the best CEO for Palm. He's definitely a visionary and good engineer, but that doesn't necessarily make a good CEO. Palm may need to bring someone else in to save the ship before it sinks because it doesn't look good. The competition is way out in front and they all have loads of money. Palm just doesn't look like they'll be able to compete. Will they be able to make a good phone? Maybe. But they won't be able to be a dominant player short of a major miracle at this point.
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