The folks at CNN Money report that Palm’s share of the smartphone market has risen due to excellent sales of the Centro:
Palm Inc., a pioneer in the category along with RIM, also picked up market share in the first quarter, when it grabbed 13.4% of smartphone sales, up from 7.9% in the fourth quarter, IDC said.
“Palm also did really well. It posted a sequential gain mainly on the strength of the Centro phone,” Llamas said. The Centro, a smaller phone than Palm’s Treo models, came out last fall for the Sprint Nextel Corp. network and was launched by AT&T Inc. in February.
But Palm’s market share is down from 23% in the first quarter a year ago, apparently falling victim to the iPhone, which went on sale late last June
Apparently, the Centro really does sell exceptionally well – I am pretty sure that Palm can survive for at least another year due to the Centro revenue. However, Palm getting fat does not guarantee rich developers and a thriving user community: developers like Resco have reported seeing little to no Centro sales in a recent TamsPalm interview.
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“Resco have reported seeing little to no Centro sales”…does that mean smart phone stupid user?! Why do people buy smartphones if they use them just like normal phones? That´s like buying an offroad car and not driving offroad/on snow, or buying an digital camcorder and taking still images only…!?! I know, someone said it before, people buy what´s “IN” …… .
Hi CroCo,
IMHO, people dont buy the Centro as a smartphone – they buy it as SMS dumbphone with QWERTY keyboard…
Best regards
Tam Hanna
“I am pretty sure that Palm can survive for at least another year due to the Centro revenue.”
That’s precisely the aim of Centro – to help Palm stay afloat for the some time. It’s cheap, it’s cute, it’s youthful, it’s for SMS-addicted youngsters, it’s for mass-market featurephone.
Probably Palm think that all PalmOS developers are already developing for their Windows Mobile line, or waiting for their “PalmOS II” or whatever.
Hi Cesar,
good point here – altough the company IMHO sees that there still are many Palm OS houses…
Once migrated, they IMHO wont go back – and this is the big future problem that Palm can have with its OS II…
Best regards
Tam Hanna