Yagottabe Kidding

4 Mobile Predictions for the New Year

W.r.t Palm getting bought (HA HA HA!) just what price are we talking about here?

$5 billion?

[don't forget the REAL share count that includes the Preferred Shares getting converted - we're talking 200+ million shares and the CURRENT stock price is $12 and the current debt that needs to be paid off is $400 million and one should assume there is SOME sort of premium on top of that]

$300 million like the outrageously expensive purchase of PalmSource and PalmOS?

Just what are we talking here?

Wouldn't Android simply be cheaper all around?

The Unlocked Phone Movement Gets a Big Boost

> There is definitely a price war brewing...

Can companies like Palm handle a price war?

I don't think so.

We're going to see some...er..."consolida...

Does CEO Age Affect Stock Performance?

Now graph college degree and performance. Or location and performance. Or sex and performance. Or...you know... CEO experience and performance.

Oh!

Wait!

That sample population above was hand picked!

Oh good grief.

Nevermind.

Next!

Google Phone May Be Data Only, VoIP Driven Device

It is WELL past time that someone comes out with a data-only cell phone that is OVERTLY data-only (instead of the under-the-covers data-only (!) that all sell phones are already).

Hope it's true.

Time for carriers to mimic cable companies and supply us with dumb pipes.

Garmin Plans to Launch Android Phone

IOW - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!

Weekly Shorts Review: Garmin, TomTom, Nintendo, Palm

Nokia isn't going to pay billions of dollars for Palm.

No one is.

It's WELL past time to put this silliness to rest.

=========

A few years ago when Palm actually had some pretty good-selling devices, like the Centro and Treos (planned or out), Palm's BoD decided the BEST future for Palm was to sell the company.

And they could not even though they had hundreds of millions in cash, no debt, and said devices. [this is all revealed in Palm's SEC documentation about the original Elevation Partners transaction]

NOW Palm is heavily in debt, has massively more shares outstanding, has Preferred Shares that have priority over common, and have a weak product that apparently didn't even live up to expectations.

And the stock price suggests billions upon billions of dollars to buy it out.

Why does ANYONE reasonably think any company would NOW be insane enough to buy Palm anywhere near the current price if they weren't insane enough to buy it really cheaper a couple years ago?

Google Redefines GPS Navigation Landscape

> ...And it is only available for Android 2.0 phones...

Is that right?

When Will Nokia Wake Up?

Perhaps Nokia has decided the "smartphone segment" isn't much of a segment relative to their other segments so are participating strictly because they have a need for a presence.

When featurephones have all the capability that smartphones have with, literally, some minor details excluded (in fact, pundits are going through excruciating convolutions to define "featurephone" and "smartphone" now so they don't totally overlap), why produce a smartphone?

How Big Will Android Get?

Good grief - someone actually noticing the ridiculousness of number of significant digits used by some sites!

What!? Did you take a math course or something and actually REMEMBER what it taught?

'Bout time someone did.

Good article.

Android, iPhone Ride Rising Tide

How is "marketshare" computed? Do those who calculate "marketshare" rely on sell-through numbers from the various manufacturers? If not, how else do they get (number of units sold by manyfacturer X)/total units by everyone)?

Now that we know Palm reports "sell-through" numbers that INCLUDE sales by their main (Pre) distributor, Sprint, to retailers (and, quite likely, even sales to distributors - those who sell to retailers )- that is, NOT end-consumers and NOT part of any "marketshare" - how is their marketshare number computed?

Can Motorola Follow the Palm Path?

[This is a clarification post]

When I type "low-end" above I am NOT talking about functionality but instead "place in the lineup". Motorola, if they are indeed pricing the Cliq "free" with contract, is setting a new standard for smartphones that ALL the other manufacturers will have to beat. The Cliq is wonderfully functional and includes Motorola's Motoblur which aparently is a better-implemented act-alike to Palm's Synergy - a REAL slap upside their corporate head.

Can Motorola Follow the Palm Path?

I call it a low-end phone because Motorola called it a low-end phone...and in the same breath mentioned the high-end phone was going to be introduced in a couple/few weeks. And, of course, we have STRONG evidence with that "leaked" T-Mobile web page that low-end pricing is coming for the Cliq.

[could the T-Mobile page have simply been a bogus-pricing placeholder? Of course, but we literally have NO evidence of that. As such, the BEST evidence we have right now is the Cliq is going to be "free' with contract - that's "low-end" (not low-functionality) pricing]

Can Motorola Follow the Palm Path?

T-Mobile "leaked" a web page showing the price for the Cliq was "Free" with contract. The page was pulled fairly quickly. Was that the ACTUAL price? It makes sense to this reader since the Cliq =is= a low-end smartphone ala the Centro (though with contemporary low-end features, not year-old low-end features). I think this business is just now getting interesting. Of course, free smartphones could be game changers entirely, causing low margin pressure on competitors...like Palm and its to-be-released Pixi.

Motorola's Cliq Builds on iPhone Concept

If the price is as that T-Mobile web page (there, then gone!) says - that is, free with contract - then this phone is a tremendous game changer.

I Quit the iPhone

>>> "...So what phone will I use next? Well, that decision is
>>> easy, too. I’d move to the Palm Pre..."

What makes the author think in-totally-dire-financ... Sprint will like Google Voice any more than AT&T?