Judging by Palm's
The Pre was released into the wild after the fourth-quarter books closed, so this is a snapshot of the desperation Palm was facing without its latest, greatest smartphone model. Sales stopped at $86.7 million, down a heart-stopping 70.7% from the year-ago period. Net losses per share nearly doubled to $0.78.
With $152.4 million of cash and equivalents on hand, Palm burned $76 million of free cash flow last quarter. That's simply not a sustainable business. Is the Pre good enough to get Palm back on track?
Well, reports are that Sprint Nextel
That's still a far cry from Apple
Why do I pin the recovery to New Year's Eve? Because that's right about when you should expect Sprint's exclusive distribution deal for the Pre to expire, so the big boys from Verizon
Sprint is a distant also-ran in the wireless marketplace, with far less reach into consumer pockets than its bigger rivals. A wider distribution network would most likely multiply the demand for the Pre, given that it doesn't get entirely upstaged by a flood of new competition in the meantime. I'm keeping a keen eye on the Google
Your resurrection is off to a good start, Palm. Let's just hope that you have enough rocket fuel to start the afterburners.
Further smart and mobile Foolishness: