Gawker
-
feuds
Palm Now Officially the Anti-Apple
Palm has become the premiere sanctuary for Steve Jobs refugees. As if to cast aside any doubt over this fact — and to underline that it's working — the smartphone maker tonight promoted former iPod chief Jon Rubinstein to CEO. More »
4,418
13
By Ryan TateComment by pepelicious: Tell me what Palm can innovate on from this point? They just made a good clone of a product that... 4 Responses | Other threads
-
scandal
Did Apple's Ex-CFO Rat Out Steve Jobs?
Forbes has a cover story on how Steve Jobs got himself in hot water with the SEC over stock options. The magazine is part-owned by former Apple CFO Fred Anderson. Do the math. More »
9,357
By Owen ThomasComment by stanhalen: Alway good for a laugh. Rich guys reverting to the little school yard bitches that they are and always have... 2 Responses | Other threads
-
dumbphones
Palm Makes Gadget Reviewers Look, Not Touch
CNET gadget reviewer Bonnie Cha is mad as hell, and she's not going to take it anymore! Why? Palm won't let her place both hands on a prototype of its iPhone-smashing Pre smartphone. More »
5,568
By Owen ThomasComment by Sandogg: Me thinks the Pre is POS. They're worried that someone who can truly take the phone on a test... 3 Responses | Other threads
-
dumbphones
Palm Copies Apple's Ego Trip
No Silicon Valley company is more arrogant than Apple. But Palm, the smartphone maker, is trying to copy Steve Jobs's knack for hubris — as well as everything else about its rival. More »
9,502
By Owen ThomasComment by Figaro: Ever since VW moved to Gawker, the comments have become totally retarded on VW. Time to do what everyone else did... 5 Responses | Other threads
-
nerdfight
Bono and Steve Jobs No Longer BFFs
What did Steve Jobs do to his old buddy Bono? The Irish rock star, once the Apple CEO's adoring buddy, is funding the most credible threat to the iPhone yet.
21,688
By Owen ThomasComment by Mount_Prion: I wish I could transfer Steve Jobs' cancer to Bono. Too mean? 6 Responses | Other threads
-
hollywood
Could This Be the Worst Tech Movie Ever?
In our list of behind-the-times tech in Hollywood movies, we missed a classic: Little Black Book, a Brittany Murphy vehicle which centered around a girlfriend discovering her boyfriend's PDA.
10,916
By Owen ThomasComment by Sebastian Junior: Far be it from me to play devils advocate, but LBB was actually a good film. Granted, the dumb... 2 Responses | Other threads
-
meltdowns
Palm, smartphone maker, in worldwide layoffs
A tipster tells us that Palm, the troubled smartphone maker, is laying off 10 percent of its staff. I called a spokeswoman at the company, who confirmed the layoffs but not the number of employees affected; Palm, at last count, had about 1,050 employees. She also said the company would make "program cuts" — Valleyspeak for dropping some future products. Palm has been hammered by competition from Apple's iPhone and Research In Motion's BlackBerry; it is in the midst of a turnaround led by its chairman, Jonathan Rubinstein, a former Apple executive and Steve Jobs confidant. Rubinstein, left, has hired many former Apple employees at Palm — so much so that, rumor has it, Jobs called Rubinstein up to scream about it. But the layoffs and program cuts suggest he may not be able to complete his ambitions for a complete revamp of Palm's product line.
1,295
By Owen ThomasComment by Haggie: Only laying off 10% of its workforce in this market, should be seen as a sign of strength, not weakness... more » | Other threads
-
hires
Palm hires Sidekick, Helio smartphone designer
Has Palm run out of Apple engineers to poach? Or has Steve Jobs's intimidation campaign proven effective? Whatever the reason, Palm's latest hire seems smart: Matias Duarte, the designer of the user interface for the Sidekick and Helio's Ocean. -
-
high finance
Monster, Palm and three other tech companies own $856 million in paper no one wants to buy
Instead of holding onto cash, tech firms such as Monster, Palm, Intuit, EarthLink and MetroPCS in recent years bought something called auction-rate securities. Basically — very basically — that means these companies loaned out around $856 million because banks told them they'd earn more than they would just holding on to the cash. Only thing is now, with the credit markets being what they are — crappy — no one else wants to buy the rights to collect on those loans. So all that cash is sewn up in paper. That could soon hurt because the companies are going to need that cash eventually, an exec at one Wall Street trading firm told the WSJ. And when they do, he said, they should expect "a steep loss."
1,645
Comment by matto: @OaklandTechie: Don't be a hater! Would you like more Naked Jesus jpegs? more » | Other threads
-
hires
Palm poaches another Apple executive
Jon Rubinstein, the chairman of Palm, is once again striking former boss Steve Jobs where it hurts — Apple's talent. The latest hire: Lynn Fox, the head of Mac PR, joined Palm earlier this month. For a PR person, she's made the move surprisingly quietly; her name has yet to appear on any press releases. As with Mike Bell, the Apple veteran who now heads Palm's product development, Rubinstein is likely trying to keep things quiet. Relations between Palm and Apple, whose iPhone is walloping Palm's Treo, are tense enough as it is.
3,694
By Owen ThomasComment by DJCarbon43: Actually, judging by her/his comments, shar works at/with Apple in some capacity. Pity your too busy being trite to notice... more » | Other threads
-
wireless
Palm misses earnings, despite Centro sales
Did I just buy my last Palm smartphone? My aging Treo 600 — yes, I hear your snickers already — died at SXSW, and I picked up a cheap Centro to replace it at a Sprint store. (A tip: Skip the $50 rebate and pay $149 instead of $99; the monthly data plan will be less expensive.) Chairman Jon Rubinstein is revamping the company's hardware and software, but does he have enough time? Until the former Apple exec's inventions hit the market, the company has to make do on Centro sales, which swell its unit sales but hit its profit margins. Palm sold a record 833,000 phones in the most recent quarter, but its $312 million in sales came in below Wall Street's hopes. For what it's worth, I love the Centro; if it hadn't locked up at just the wrong moment, I would have beaten Mashable's Pete Cashmore with his iPhone in a text-messaging duel.
377
By Owen ThomasComment by cruci-fiction: Considering how much cash they have to cushion this type of loss they should be in fine shape. more » | Other threads
-
palm
Palm is closing its 34 retail stores as the company "consolidates resources" to compete more effectively. Wait, Palm had retail stores? [News.com] -
mike bell
With latest hire, Palm's poaching at Apple comes to a boil
Palm has hired Mike Bell, a 16-year Apple veteran, as its SVP of product development. But you'll never hear that from Palm. The hiring of an industry veteran for a top executive spot is something normally trumpeted as loudly as possible. But Palm is desperately trying to keep quiet the fact that it won over Bell shortly before Christmas. Why the silencing effort? Jon Rubinstein, Palm's chairman, was part of Steve Jobs's turnaround team before he left Apple in 2006. Since he joined Palm last year, the smartphone maker has been hiring a number of Apple engineers. There have been "screaming matches and threats of lawsuits," says a plugged-in source. More »
9,256
By Owen ThomasComment by LaneAdmetus: Bell and Rubenstein have had their lips permanently sewn to each other's anii since time immemorial so this isn't especially... more » | Other threads
-
mysteries
Did Palm's Jon Rubinstein know the MacBook Air was coming?
"Does it remind you of the Foleo?" Palm's never-released "smartphone companion" laptop, killed on the eve of its introduction last September, does look a bit like Apple's new MacBook Air, though the latter is thinner yet and far more powerful. Under the casings, there's little comparison. Which raises a question: Did Jon Rubinstein, the former Apple executive who's now Palm's executive chairman, get some inkling that Apple would be coming out with the MacBook Air? More »
807
By Owen ThomasComment by macbeach: I would think the Foleo would be more comparable to the Asus eee PC which is a screaming success (but... more » | Other threads
-
earnings
Palm stock fell almost 7 percent today after the company reported that it lost $9.63 million in the latest quarter. Last year, in the same period, Palm earned $12.77 million. Too bad for Palm shareholders. Perhaps they can commiserate with the Palm employees that were laid off the week before Christmas. [AP] -
scoop
Layoffs at Palm come in OS development
A anonymous tipster tells us Palm will lay off 250 employees, confirming our previous report. "The biggest cuts are from OS development," our source says. "[SVP Mark] Bercow wants the OS sold by April or worst case scenario — abandoned." Which seems strange, considering Palm went through some gymnastics just to get is old operating system back from the Japanese company, Access, which had bought it. The rumor, however, jibes with the Wall Street Journal's report last week on former Apple exec and current Palm executive chairman Jon Rubinstein's plans for the company. More »
996
Comment by deathbychichi: Another abandoned Palm OS effort... another planned new Palm OS for the end of next year... who would have thought? more » | Other threads
-
smartphones
iPhone Greedily Eats North American Market Share
Canalys has produced a report showing the iPhone has grown massively in North America. The study looked specifically at smartphone market share statistics in Q3, and the iPhone, in a surprisingly short time span, has managed to grab second position. A 27% market share is nothing to scoff at; what Apple has done in a few months, others have failed to do in years. [Gizmodo]
21,073
By Haroon MalikComment by ShyGuy91284: Symbian still has far greater marketshare. The catch is, its marketshare is with s40 on devices that you can't... more » | Other threads
-
layoffs
Ed Colligan says no holiday cheer for Palm employees
Nothing spreads holiday cheer like a rosy rash of firings as employees are starting to break out the eggnog. However they may try, there was no fooling CEO Ed Colligan into dispelling rumors he planned to heap coal — pink-slip shaped coal — into 100 stockings. The AP has confirmed that Palm has laid off 10 percent of its work force this week. These 115 souls were sacrificed to "focus and better align resources behind core initiatives" and "to ensure that our expenses are in line with projected revenues." Bah humbug to you, too, Ed. (Photo by lhoon) -
palm
Jon Rubinstein inherits a fistful of fun
Former Apple exec Jon Rubinstein, who ushered in the iMac and iBook, was recruited by Palm in mid-July to help pull the company out from under Apple's Birkenstocks and RIM's wingtips. The flailing smartphone maker certainly needs someone to inject something into its product lineup that is, as CEO Ed Colligan concedes, perceived as stale. (Treo, Treo, Treo!) Too bad it didn't happen sooner. Yesterday it was confirmed Palm will have a wave of layoffs, rumored to be in the hundreds, in the next few weeks. Why? More »
775
Comment by deathbychichi: Poor Palm... the first mover advantage... the first mover disadvantage... the 3COM sale... the brutal programming environment... the software spinoff...... more » | Other threads
-
amazon.com
Kindle maker Lab126 hides in Apple's backyard
Jeff Bezos, sitting in an office in Seattle, is basking in the credit for Amazon.com's new Kindle e-reader. But who really deserves credit for it? Lab126, an Amazon subsidiary in the heart of Silicon Valley — Cupertino, Calif., Apple's hometown. With former Apple and Palm employees running the quasi-startup, some have speculated that Lab126 might be coming up with an MP3 player or handheld computer. Instead? The Kindle, which many have dinged for a design that hardly matches the iPod or Treo. ("The Pontiac Aztek of e-readers," says a friend of blogger Jason Kottke.) The good news: Lab126, which now openly takes credit for the Kindle, is hiring two more designers. If you want to do something about the Kindle's design, now's your chance.
3,517
By Owen ThomasComment by MarniaAmphilochus: There's a huge potential to use this sort of thing in schools, replacing textbooks and library books, but this "gadget"... more » | Other threads
-
the chart
How well did the iPhone really sell?
Apple's third quarter was a blowout all around, but the real question is how the iPhone is faring. Now that we've got a quarter's worth of data, we can compare it to the competition, and gauge the effect of blogosphere scandals like the recent episode of iPhones "bricking" after a software update — sure, tech pundits got worked up, but did people stop buying iPhones? The bottom line: Steve Jobs & Co. entered a daunting market and performed quite well. More »
1,321
By Tim FaulknerComment by deathbychichi: Here in Nederlands iPhone is looking pretty cool. Lots of people want it. Needs push email to non-Yahoo... more » | Other threads
-
delays
Palm says their new smartphone OS won't be released until the end of 2008. The new system is progressing "as well as possibly could be expected," executives say. Sounds like that plan to split off Palm's software division isn't working out that well. Shareholders, we hope you aren't still holding your breath. [The Register] -
quotable
"I'm going to use my $100 rebate I get from the I-had-to-have-it-before-my-brother iPhone to get one! And I'll even have a dollar left over for a refreshing can of soda." — AllThingsD's Kara Swisher on the new, low-priced Palm Centro. Kara, you ignorant slut. Don't you know that you can only use your iPhone credit on Apple products? [AllThingsD] -
palm
Maybe we spoke too soon when we wrote that Palm shareholders were going to get slaughtered by the company's entrance into the cell-phone price wars with the bargain-priced $100 Centro smartphone. Palm shares were up 6 percent in trading Thursday. Don't hold your breath waiting for that trend to continue. Maybe they're just relieved Palm cancelled the Foleo. [AP] -
palm
How low can they go?
Palm is diving from the high-end smartphone market, where some devices sell for an iPhone-like $600, deep into the low end, with the $100 Centro. Kids, that's why they post warning signs around the pool. But we suspect shareholders are the ones who are going to end up with a pounding headache. -
palm
Remembering the Foleo
Were you actually looking forward to the release of the Foleo, Palm's underpowered Linux laptop meant to be a companion to its Treo smartphones? Crushed that it was cancelled? Relive the Foleo's brief glory days thanks to this clip of Jeff Hawkins demonstrating the device on AllThingsD.com. More » -
palm
The folly of Jeff Hawkins
For years now, Palm cofounder Jeff Hawkins has been promising his company will come up with "a new product category" — some leap of the imagination, akin to the original PalmPilot handheld organizer, that will define an entirely new submarket of gadgets. The Treo smartphone was, genuinely, such an advance. And the way Hawkins talked up the Foleo, the lightweight, underpowered Linux laptop he revealed at the D: All Things Digital conference earlier this year, you'd have thought it, too, was a real breakthrough. Hawkins may have fooled himself, but he fooled no one else, including, at long last, Palm's own management. Palm is taking a $10 million charge against earnings to cancel the development of Foleo — and this on the eve of its release. More »
767
By Owen ThomasComment by trevo: The Foleo was too big. If it had been the size of the Psion Reveo/5mx, it would have been perfect. Nothing... more » | Other threads
-
palm
Gadget expert Peter Rojas gives Palm, the maker of Treo smartphones, some extremely tough love. Basically, he'd like the company to completely rethink its hardware designs, operating system, developer relations, and marketing in order to get back in his good graces. We think it would be cheaper for the company to just buy everyone ice cream. [Engadget] -
palm
Left hobbled with debt by Elevation's cash-out refinancing, the smartphone maker is laying off developers. PCWorld.com
818
By wagger1Comment by strider_mt2k: It's better to burn out than it is to rust. Hey hey, My my. more » | Other threads
-
geeks rock out
Geeks rock out: Five Easy Pieces plays this Friday
It's only appropriate that an industry founded in carports should breed geeks with garage bands. Our first featured Valley band is Five Easy Pieces, a rock group started by the techie Allen Bush. By day, he's the director of marketing and business development for Internet startup Sharpcast. By night, he rocks out. Sez Allen: More »
- 1
1-30 of 30 for "Valleywag, Palm"
