Despite the success of the Palm Centro and the Treo Pro release, Palm Inc. has reported a fifth straight quarterly loss causing its shares to fall 7.5 percent in extended trading. As the gap widens between Palm and rival Research In Motion (RIM), it seems that a truly innovative device is going to be necessary to help Palm recover financially. It looks like selling 2 million Palm Centros just wasn’t enough after the Foleo fiasco and stagnant sales of their legacy Palm Treo lineup.
Hopefully the Treo Pro delivers the much needed sales revenue that CEO Ed Colligan was looking for when he announced the device last month. With the Treo Pro expected to battle head to head against the Apple iPhone 3G and the BlackBerry Bold, the road ahead is very challenging. Chief Financial Officer Andrew Brown said,
Profitability will improve as Palm works to cut the cost of making Centro phones and new Treo models account for a larger portion of sales.
Palm currently represents 10.8 percent of the smartphone market, down from 13.4 percent in the previous three months. Research in Motion now maintains 53.6 percent, up from 44.5 percent during that same time period.