Palm slashes forecast

Facepalm moment

California based Palm faces dire straits. Financial trouble looms as the company cut its forecast revenues and the share price slumped. Generally smartphone sales are riding a wave but demand for Palm's new Pre, Pixie and their 'Plus' siblings has been low. It's unfortunate as Palm's webOS has some great features, including the best implementation of multitasking I've seen. So why the problems? Well, partly webOS is being squeezed out by established operating systems, the rise of Android and new entrants with more clout like Samsung’s Bada. Without the support structures and developer community, there can be no clamour generated for all important app consumption. Second, the advertising and branding has been dreadfully dull and even worse.

CEO Jon Rubinstein has sent a letter to all Palm employees, reassuring them that Palm has £500 million in the bank to carry it through the choppy waters, but that figure only just covers the amount that backer Elevation Partners has already stumped up to keep the firm running.

Originally published at OneMobileRing.com