• Uncategorized

    Palm Shareholders Approve Elevation Partners Investment

    September 12, 2007 /

    Palm has just posted a press release indicating that the company shareholders have voted to approve the $325MM investment in Palm by Elevation Partners.

    “Palm, Inc., (Nasdaq:PALM) today announced that Palm stockholders have approved proposals that will permit Palm to conclude a $325 million investment by Elevation Partners, L.P., borrow up to $400 million in an associated debt financing, make a cash distribution of $9.00 per share to Palm stockholders, and make related adjustments to its equity plans.”

    “We appreciate our stockholders’ strong support of these proposals and look forward to an era of renewed innovation and focused execution at Palm,” said Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer.”

    It will be interesting to see what becomes of this deal. Many Palm fans are hoping that this agreement will help put the company back on track with new and innovative products while avoiding the problems that plagued the recently canceled Foleo mobile companion.

    Read the full Palm press release    …

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  • Uncategorized

    Palm to Hold Annual Stockholder Meeting Today

    September 12, 2007 /


    Later today Palm will be hosting their annual stockholder meeting.

    Palm, Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM) will hold its annual meeting of stockholders on Wednesday, Sept. 12, at 9 a.m. PDT at its headquarters, 950 W. Maude Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif. The record date for this meeting was set as Aug. 8, 2007. The agenda for the meeting is outlined in the company’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Aug. 8, 2007.

    During this meeting, I expect the vote for approving the Elevation Partners recapitalization deal. If approved, shareholders will receive a $9 dividend, Palm will receive about $325MM from Elevation, and Elevation will gain to seats on the Palm Board of Directors and two existing board members are expected to step down.

    Read the full press release…

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  • treo

    Palm Launches the Treo 500v on Vodafone

    September 12, 2007 /

    Earlier this morning, Palm officially launched the Treo 500v, previously named as “Gandolf” in Internet rumors, for European Vodafone customers. (Note: The European Palm website has not yet been updated, however, Palm has issued the following press release at 6am, Eastern Time in the United States.) The new Treo will become available for sale this October, meaning Palm’s customers may still have to wait another 4-6 weeks.

    The Palm press release reads:

    “Palm Europe Ltd today announced the Palm(R) Treo(TM) 500v smartphone which combines multiple forms of communication and multimedia capabilities with high speed 3G/UMTS mobile internet access, allowing users access to popular websites such as MySpace, YouTube and eBay whilst on the move. The new Palm Treo 500v smartphone will initially be available exclusively to Vodafone customers from October.

    The Palm Treo 500v smartphone runs on a Windows(R) Mobile(R) 6 standard platform and has a full keyboard, large screen, video streaming capability and a comprehensive multi-messaging functionality covering Instant Messaging, SMS, email and phone and personal information management software in a new design(1). The compact form factor is available in two colours: glacier white and charcoal grey.”

    The press release goes on to list some of the features of the Treo 500v, including:

    • All-in-one smartphone with messaging, email and web
    • Full keyboard for fast and easy typing
    • Automatic delivery of Hotmail/MSN, Yahoo!, and Gmail, email as it arrives
    • Large, high-resolution screen
    • Internet Explorer Mobile full-featured browser
    • Access to Google Maps and eBay
    • Vodafone live! for news, sports, and entertainment on the go
    • 3G/UMTS network
    • Planner with address book, calendar, to-do lists, and more
    • View Microsoft(R) Word, Excel(R), PowerPoint(R), and Adobe PDF files
    • Windows Media(R) Player Mobile for music and videos
    • 2.0 megapixel camera captures video too
    • 150MB of memory, expandable with microSD expansion card
    • Windows Mobile(R) 6 Standard software
    • Microsoft(R) Direct Push technology for delivery of Outlook(R) email
    • Bluetooth(R) wireless technology
    • Device available in two colours: glacier white and charcoal grey

    Read the complete Treo 500v press release…

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  • centro,  treo

    Rumor: Is this the Treo 500?

    September 11, 2007 /

    Earlier today Palm community websites went nuts with a leaked picture of what is probably the new device coming to Europe this Wednesday, the Treo 500.

    The device specifications are still a bit sketchy, but if the rumors are true, this might be the first Palm device to run Windows Mobile Standard, which does not include touchscreen support. If the rumors continue to be true, there are likely to be two versions of this phone: a Windows Mobile/GSM device, and a Palm OS/EVDO device. It is not clear if there would be a Palm OS/GMS device here in the United States running on the AT&T network.

    Regardless of what what is true about these rumors or not, the world will find out what is coming to Europe on September 12th.

    [Thanks to Holvoetn for the tip.]

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  • centro

    Rumor: New Centro Details – Updated

    September 9, 2007 /

    (Updated 9/9/07 @ 4:15pm)

    Palm InfoCenter has some new rumored details about the upcoming device rumored to be launching on October 14th on the Sprint network.

    Kris Keilhack writes:

    “Based on the preliminary specifications, strong software bundle, and rumored $99 price point, the Centro appears to be a far better value proposition than its pricier 755p sister device in the Sprint lineup. Even if the Centro lacks Documents To Go, PTunes Deluxe is a superb choice to be bundled the device, especially if Palm is targeting the media-savvy youth market with this release. Previously leaked photos have confirmed that the Centro uses the updated Phone app first seen on the Treo 680 and not included on the Treo 755p. Earlier reports also indicated that the Centro will have EVDO Rev. A but this has not yet been confirmed at this time.”

    If this is true, I’m glad to see Palm including a full version of Pocket Tunes (pTunes) Deluxe with this new device. It is something that I have been advocating for a while now. All indications are that the Centro is intended to be a consumer device and not one targeted for business customers. In this context, I support the move to remove Documents To Go from the preinstalled applications list. I do wonder if the Documents To Go Viewer application will be loaded on the device. The Documents To Go Viewer application was a special read-only viewer that appeared on the Treo 600 to allow customers to view Word and Excel attachments from inside VersaMail.

    Read the full PIC article…

    Update:

    The website PhoneNews.com appears to be corroborating the information from the Palm InfoCenter article.

    More details via PhoneNews.com    …

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  • centro,  foleo

    The Inquirer Talks about Foleo

    September 8, 2007 /

    The Inquirer has a new article posted that talks about the Centro and the “not-Centro-smartphone” coming to Europe next week, and the fate of the Foleo Mobile Companion.

    The Inquirer writes:

    “The new product is not, contrary to much chatter on the web, the Centro, of which little is known other than what can be gleaned from the usual murky shots snapped by PDA-obsessed sites. Instead it’s a Treo that will be launched with partners Vodafone and Microsoft at a London press conference next Wednesday.

    Unless the new Treo is something very special, however, it won’t stop the chatter on Palm-stalking blogs and websites where some of the big questions being asked include:

    Will there be availability of product on auction and other sites?

    Did the mewling of fanbois kill a good product?

    and,

    Could the Foleo rise phoenix-like from the ashes?”

    Oh ya and Foleo Fanatics was mentioned in the article too.

    Read New Treo loom as Foleo lives on in blogosphere…

    [Thanks to the tipster who sent this in.]

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  • foleo

    Thank you

    September 5, 2007 /

    Yesterday’s news that Palm has canceled the Foleo was, to say the least, a little bit surprising. As you know, the Foleo was very close to being completed and released.

    I was reviewing the traffic logs for Foleo Fanatics this morning and discovered that September 4th was the single busiest day for the site. Thank you for your continued support. As I stated yesterday, I will continue to cover the news and provide analysis on the Palm community.

    I would also like to thank all of the folks who emailed me and left comments here on Foleo Fanatics. I know many of us were looking forward to being able to use a Foleo, either as a companion to the Treo or as a stand alone computer, in the coming weeks.

    For Palm, their immediate priorities should be to complete the work on “Palm OS II”, complete the work on the first smart device (be it a Treo or Centro) that will run that operating system, test it, and deliver a stable product platform for their customers. As I stated in last week’s 1SRC.com Editorial, Mobile Linux – The Key to Device Interoperability, it is important for Palm to have synergies between devices. The decision by Palm to move resources off the Foleo I project and on to a new Linux OS and smartphones is a signal that Palm understands their the current marketplace and is now executing a plan to realign their business with the market.

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