100000 PreThe launch of the Pre is a lifesaver

Is this the renaissance of Palm Almost out of the market of "smartphones" under the effect of the rise of Apple, Nokia and RIM (BlackBerry manufacturer), the inventor of personal assistants electronic rarely even was talk about him that these days. Last date, announces the appointment of Jon Rubinstein as CEO. Fifty-two years, this engineer is a former Apple Executive. And not any: close to Steve Jobs, it is considered as the father of the iPod, the famous player launched in 2001 which contributed to the revival of the firm to Apple.

Jon Rubinstein had joined Palm in October 2007 as President ("chairman"), with the mission of reinventing the business. Now, he takes the business reins, replacing Ed Colligan, who will join the investment fund Elevation Partners, first shareholder to 25 of Palm.

On the front of the stage

The "timing" of this announcement owes nothing to chance. Last Saturday, Palm has been comeback on the forefront of mobile telephony, with the launch in the United States for the Pre. A device acclaimed, regarded by some as the first mobile to compete with the Apple iPhone. Behind this sleek black Pebble to the rounded corners, some have seen the paw of the elders of Apple recruited in number by Palm since the arrival of Jon Rubinstein. It was also he who was responsible for present the Pre for the first time to the public at the CES in Las Vegas last January.

"I helped to create a large part of the culture of Apple engineer during the relief phase, recently recalled Jon Rubinstein.". Palm engineer culture has much similarity with that of Apple.

Seven quarters of losses

It is now on his shoulders rests the survival of Palm. Because, over time, the manufacturer of the Treo and Centro sales have collapsed. The pioneer of the sentence handheld computers to find its place on the very promising niche of "smartphones", a market dominated by Nokia (41.2 of the market in the first quarter according to Gartner), RIM (19.9) and Apple (10.8). "The aging of its product portfolio and its lack of presence outside the United States are the main reasons for its decline, says Neil Mawston, at Strategy Analytics." In the first quarter, Palm represented more than 1.1 of global sales of "smartphones". "Therefore, Palm, which will publish its annual results on 25 June, displays already seven consecutive quarters of losses.

But investors still want to believe. For evidence, the course of stock of Palm has quadrupled since the beginning of the year, despite the poor financial performance of the company. Palm weighs however that 1.8 billion dollars in the stock market against 126 billion for Apple.

100,000 Pre

The launch of the Pre is a lifesaver. Palm did not disclose sales figures but analysts believe that he is in is sold between 45,000 and 100,000 units in the first weekend. According to the Institute iSuppli, may to sell 1.1 million this year, or more if a 3 G model is launched in Europe in the coming months. But Apple will be quickly tempered the euphoria associated with the launch of the Pre announcing as early as Monday a new version of the iPhone on June 19, and especially by lowering the price of the previous model to $ 99. By selling its Pre to 199 dollars in Sprint, Palm thought to align the rates of Apple. It is missed.