Palm Q3 Revenues Soar, Loss Shrinks

By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 3/19/2010

Sunnyvale, Calif. - Palm revenues soared during the third quarter and first nine months of the company's fiscal year, and the smartphone maker's net loss shrank considerably during both periods, the company's financial report show.

Third-quarter handset shipments in units were up 23 percent sequentially and 300 percent from the year-ago quarter, reflecting the launch this year of its WebOS-based Palm Pre and Palm Pixi models, the company also said. Handset sell-through during the quarter, however, slumped 29 percent sequentially and 15 percent from the year-ago quarter, the company.

In the third quarter ending Feb. 28, the company shipped 960,000 handsets, but only 408,000 sold through to end users.

"Our recent underperformance has been very disappointing, but the potential for Palm remains strong," said chairman/CEO Jon Rubinstein. "The work we're doing to improve sales is having an impact. We're making great progress on future products, and we're looking forward to upcoming launches with new carrier partners."

Palm's smaller third-quarter net loss is one sign of progress. The net loss shrank to $18.5 million from a year-ago $95 million. For the nine-month period, the loss shrank to $108.3 million from the year-ago $640.7 million.

Third-quarter revenues grew to $350 million from the year-ago $90.6 million, and nine-month revenues grew to $984.2 million from the year-ago $649.1 million.

The company's Palm Pre and Pixi are available through Sprint, and the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus became available recently through Verizon Wireless.