No wonder Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is so dismayed by the company’s Windows Mobile division: Most Windows Mobile users aren’t even aware their phones run it. In fact, according to the CFI Group, WinMo has such poor brand recognition that it was forced to group it in the “Other” category in its Smartphone Satisfaction Survey.
Read More »
Now this is just getting silly. Pali Research says sales of the Palm Pre are slowing. RBC’s Mike Abramsky says they aren’t and claims 325,000 to 375,000 have been sold to date, ahead of his expectations. Jesup and Lamont analyst Kevin Dede says the device is plagued by high exchange/return rates of potentially 40 percent. Abramsky says it’s more likely between two and three percent. Who’s right? Who cares?
Read More »
Now we know why it was Palm executive chairman Jon Rubinstein and investor Roger McNamee on stage at the D conference last month talking up the Pre, and not CEO Ed Colligan: Colligan was on his way out. On Wednesday, Palm tapped Rubinstein as its new CEO.
Read More »
With Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky founded Palm in 1992 and went on to become its CEO. She was part of the brains behind the Palm Pilot–the standard-setting personal digital assistant–upon which Palm built its business. Dubinksy has a long and storied history at Palm and one that will soon end. According to a recent SEC filing, she will soon resign from the company’s board of directors.
Read More »
Turns out Apple isn’t the only company whose smart phones are in short supply this spring. According to Morgan Keegan analyst Tavis McCourt, Research in Motion and Palm are suffering shortages as well.
Read More »
Palm shareholders gave the company a kick in the Grape Nuts this morning in answer to news that it will shutter all but one of its retail stores by the end of the first quarter. The closure affects some 33 Palm locations nationwide, including airport kiosks. The only store Palm plans to keep open is [...]
Read More »
So much for Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s claim that “there’s no chance the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” According to market-research outfit iSuppli, Apple’s iPhone outsold all smart phones in the United States during July, outpacing sales of Palm’s Treo and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry, not to mention handsets from Nokia, [...]
Read More »
The iPhone’s “virtual keyboard” technology presents early challenges for some users, particularly those accustomed to a physical keyboard. In a new study by usability consultancy User Centric, it took QWERTY users almost twice as long to create the same message on the iPhone as it did on their QWERTY phone. “For QWERTY users, texting was [...]
Read More »