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Technology Stocks : PALM - The rebirth of Palm Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KevRupert who wrote (1357)	8/27/2000 1:46:15 PM
From: lkj	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6784

Advalorem, 1) A key European alliance/merger would be a big victory. If this happens, it would be a key strategic victory for Palm. What kind of alliance are you referring to? Another licensee or some technology company like Symbian? Licensee-wise, we have gotten Nokia, and Ericsson had signed an intent to use Palm OS. Who else is there we need to address in European? Philipps? Thompson? Siemens? As for Symbian, it's more of a competitor than partner. The only reason to partner with Symbian is because Nokia is asking for it. From a technology side, what Palm needs to address are real time capabilities. 2) The Sony/Hand alliances are excellent values currently -- but what if a varying O/S enters the marketplace? Already, I believe, that Sony is a licensee of CE, and that Sony has its own OS, and WindRiver System has just announced that Sony has a line of products coming out with VxWorks in there. The key for us is to lock sony down for portable devices with a large screen. 3) How did Hand take away such a huge chuck (>25%) of the marketplace in such a short time? Is it due to the founders of Palm being more creative/innovative, planning for component parts better, or what has happened? How does this effect Palm going forward. Hand has been forthwright in stating that they will license another O/S if it offers more value than the Palm O/S. I actually find this as a good news. Palm is growing at over 100% a year. Hand was the partner that we needed to really push CE to the edge. Microsoft is the number one enemy. My long term view is that Palm will spin off or sell its hardware unit eventually. I don't fear Hand a bit. In fact, with our new low price strategy, I am not sure Hand has any lead anymore. 4) What innovative product lines has Palm introduced in the past 1-year? (The Palm VII is definately an exception). But I have seen weak color model introductions, weak application introductions (compared to the Hand slot). What innovative Palm product lines are anticipated in the near term? Why are the only product lines being discussed the iPaq, RIMM models, Hand, and the M100 (the M100 isn't innovative, and isn't recommended by cnet.com). In reality Palm probably has invented as much as Compaq, RIMM, and Hand. Pushing wireless is Palm's number one innitiative, I am not sure how you could say it's an exception. Palm is enabling connectivity to all Palms later this year with connectivity kit. That is important, because connectivity is the key to enable a whole new breed of applications. Remember, Palm doesn't develop applications; it provides a platform with enabling elements for others to develop applications. Pen-based UI was an enabling element and connectivity is another. Overall, I would agree with you that I rather see more and faster improvements in product releases. Yankowski has been on the ship for a while. Clearly, our direction is right, we just need to execute in fast speed. This is something that Hand has done well, but maybe too well, which is demonstrated in its Christmas sales season fiasco of last year. 5) Hand is tearing apart Palm -- in terms of marketshare and sales -- , for a company to be in existence for such a short time. Is this a concern for anyone? Hand is tearing Palm apart, because there is really no differentiation between low-end Palm products from Hand products. Why would I spend more to buy a Palm III. In my mind, this is all good. Palm strategically made this way. If we wanted to kill Hand, we wouldn't have licensed the OS to Hand. But do you see the briliance and courage in licensing the OS back to Hawkins? Remember, Microsoft is enemy number one! We can always go back and run Handspring over. Maybe Sony will do it, but why do we care? Licensee ware supposed to go after each other. The big picture is that Palm will be a pure software and Internet company, no one doing any hardware work. In the view, we would surely like to see Hand succeed, just not so fast. Maybe, as the rumor has it, we will sell the hardware unit to Hand. 6) Every article that I read about Hand indicates that Hand is much more aggressive in announcing their plans for the future. I don't discount these stories due to the fact that the people making the claims created the Palm to begin with at USRob. Hand has been deadly quite about what it plans to release. Palm and Sony have been a lot more aggressive. Khan