Registered: Aug 1999
Location: Inverness, FL
Posts: 428

Handspring today updated the outlook for its financial performance for the fourth quarter of its fiscal year ending June 30, 2001. The company now expects revenues for Q4 to be in the range of $60 to $65 million, down from its most recent forecast of about $130 million. Handspring reported $123.8 million in revenues in Q3 2001.

Donna Dubinsky, CEO of Handspring, said, "Our projected results for the current quarter reflect short-term competitive inventory pressures, significant price reductions throughout the market and softened consumer demand over the past two months. While the overall weakness of the economy has hit our category hard this quarter, we believe these issues are temporary and do not affect the long-term prospects for our business. We will continue to deliver compelling, innovative and differentiated products that we believe will help us build leadership in the industry."

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<B>Marcus Adolfsson</B>
Editor

Registered: Jun 2000
Location:
Posts: 594

Wow, continued tough talk from a woman who's chips are currently down. I'm still behind them....

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 501

The most significant thing to me is that their stock didn't dip beneath Palm's stock price. The most frequent reason behind Palm's stock price drop is their announcement of earnings not meeting forecasts.

Apparently shareholder's share your faith, bkbk.

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Jeff Meyer

"And he died like he lived: with his mouth wide open."

Registered: May 2000
Location: Laurel, MD USA
Posts: 26

bad economic forecast has a + and a -

On the negative side....
Yes, it means they're making less money - but handspring's products are too great, and their user base too invested, for that to last too long - it'll swing back.

But on the positive side....
It means the Prism's price is coming down (it is - see the news!), and will stay down. They're not about to raise the price once they rally back - that'd just piss people off left and right. This is a VERY compelling reason for me to go trade-up to a Prism now. Once I've got the scratch to do so, I'm there.

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--Steven Lacher

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Seattle, WA
Posts: 501

Re: Prism price drop

quote:

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Originally posted by lacherclp
But on the positive side....
It means the Prism's price is coming down (it is - see the news

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Jeff Meyer

"And he died like he lived: with his mouth wide open."

Registered: Jan 2001
Location: Richmond, VA
Posts: 3

Reasoning behind slow sales

Has anyone read any "marketing" reports that expand on the sudden slowdown on Handheld PC sales? From everything I have read it looks like Palm was selling nearly 1 million units a month (not sure of this number may have been per quarter) before the slowdown. The reasoning I read about the slowing Palm sales was the "leak" for the new 500 series devices causing buyers to wait causing the older units to remain in inventory. The big distributors refused to restock their shelves with the "old" devices. I guess that potential Handspring buyers ended up waiting too?

I also have recently read that sales of Palm 500 series devices have started to increase. So does that mean the slowdown is beginning to end?

Is there a site that charts the number of handhelds sold by month?

One thing I am sure of is that the "increasing" number of PocketPCs does not account for the decrease in Palm sales. PocketPCs just reached the 1 million mark recently. Small potatoes to the Palm sales.

Any good links anyone?

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Prison
Posts: 421

Well

The difference between Palm's slowdowns and HS's slowdowns, is that Palm had an end in sight. I certainly would have waited for the new M5X series to come out before I made a PDA purchase OVER $299.00

It's the leaking out that killed Palm. And from what I've heard their sales are doing much better now.

Now Handspring is in the hot seat. With SD modules being announced (told you!) , and being priced competetively, Handspring's Springboard slot MAY soon become yesterday's news.

Handspring's mistake came with the New Edge. From certain angles, it looked downright sexy. But it simply wasn't thin enough, and the plastic bumper looks downright tacky. That and the fact that a separate sled was required for Springboard modules turned people towards the M500. That, and the fact that for $50.00 more (without any special discounts) , they could have a better form factor than the EDGE, AND a color screen.

The color EDGE MAY offset things, but if Handspring wants to be a competitor, they MUST stop depending on their Springboard modules for sales (that, or use it to run say... a desktop OS!) , and add the possibility to upgrade the OS, competitive pricing, and further innovation.

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<b><font size=1 color=teal>"Sorry about the whole thing about losing your life savings, but that Palmpilot is property of Enron, so please give it back"