Palm yesterday reported a net loss of $98 million for its fiscal third quarter compared with a loss of $57 million a year earlier.
The Sunnyvale, Calif., company’s smartphone sell-through rate for the third fiscal quarter was down 42 percent year over year, and revenue was down 72 percent from a year ago.
Still, CEO and President Ed Colligan put a positive spin to the results, saying Palm is “poised to usher in a new era.”
Palm recently received net proceeds of about $103.6 million in a public stock offering.
Palm unveiled the Pre at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. Neither Sprint Nextel, the first carrier to offer the Pre, nor Palm have said exactly when the Pre will go on sale, but the expectation is it will be before the second quarter ends.
In a conference call with analysts, Colligan said Palm has gone through the certification process with Sprint at least 15 times over the last few years and he’s confident the company can make its delivery goal for the Pre. Palm had delivery problems with the Treo Pro, but it has more control over the Pre.
Colligan also said Palm met with some of the largest carriers in Europe during the Mobile World Congress (MWC), and they’re showing great interest in the Pre and Palm webOS. No announcements have been made yet about carriers other than Sprint carrying the device.
