Is Palm Dying or Set to Thrive: Two Points of View – NYT & Fast Company

There’s always two sides to every story (as the saying goes). So, which side are you on?

The New York Times’ Saul Hansell says: Is Palm’s Comeback Losing Steam?

Fast Company’s Chris Dannen says: Why the Times is Wrong to Be Bearish on Palm

Both writers make interesting points. So, let’s just take a look at a few numbers…PALM (Palm’s stock ticker) went from a 52-week low of $1.14 per share and then shot up to around $8 per share after its initial announcement. It kept going up to $18 per share by late September (quite an amazing run up) before settling in to around $12 per share where it now hovers. Yahoo! Finance’s information says its profit margin is -195.37% (you read that right) with an operating margin of -79.14%. Year-over-year quarterly revenue growth was -81.5% (again, note that “minus” sign). Palm has $211.78 million in cash.

In September Silicon Beat noted that Palm had used $45 million in “operating activities” for the then previous quarter.

Palm’s Uncertain Future And Its Accounting Change

If this operating burn rate remains flat, you can do the math on how long the remaining cash will last. Palm needs to move beyond selling its phones only through Sprint in the U.S. in order to start looking healthy in 2010. Or, they need to sell a bazillion Pixi’s at $99 each (subsidized).

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