Palm today revised their guidance for revenues for the quarter and year stating they will be “well below its previously forecasted range of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion”. Palm expects that revenues for the third quarter of fiscal year 2010 will be in the range of $285 million to $310 million on a GAAP basis.
In a press release Palm states,
“Palm webOS is recognized as a groundbreaking platform that enables one of the best smartphone experiences available today, and our work to evolve the platform and bring industry-leading technology to market continues. However, driving broad consumer adoption of Palm products is taking longer than we anticipated,” said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer. “Our carrier partners remain committed, and we are working closely with them to increase awareness and drive sales of our differentiated Palm products.”
This comes on the heels of a report from the WSJ that Verizon was considering dropping the Palm phones due to disappointing sales. This news was sourced by an analyst who cites conversations with Verizon officials. To us, this doesn’t seem plausible. Both the Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus have been out for roughly a month. It does raise concern that perhaps Verizon will not provide the marketing commitment necessary to help boost sales.