centro

Palm still waiting for new products to end losses

Palm is still struggling as it awaits the arrival of new Treos and a new operating system.

The company on Thursday reported a net loss of $43.4 million for its fourth fiscal quarter, or 40 cents a share, compared with net income of $15.7 million last year. That loss is not as bad as it looks because of restructuring charges and the write-off of some bad debts, but even factoring all those charges out Palm still lost $23.9 million, or 22 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson One were hoping for 18 cents.

Palm's main … Read more

Palm Centro is now available unlocked

Heretofore only available via carrier (namely Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon), Palm has just made its consumer-level Palm Centro completely carrier-independent by offering an unlocked version. It'll have quad-band GSM support (850/900/1800/900 Mhz) but no 3G (up to EDGE only). It has pretty much the same specs as the AT&T model, but will be slightly more pricey at $299 and sports a gray number pad instead of the green.

Other news coming from Palm is that all Centros (including this unlocked one) will be able to get the new version of Google Maps … Read more

Palm Centro heads to Verizon Wireless

It's not quite the Palm Treo 850 or Treo 800w news we were hoping for, but we're sure Verizon Wireless customers will still be happy to hear that they'll be able to get their hands on a Palm Centro starting Friday, June 13. Like the AT&T and Sprint models, Verizon's version of the entry-level smartphone will carry the same affordable price tag of $99 (with a two-year contract) and comes in a cobalt blue color.

Details are still trickling in as far as what the Verizon Palm Centro will include (Palm was finalizing the … Read more

Apple's iPhone loses U.S. market share in Q1

Apple experienced a bit of a setback in the U.S. smartphone market during the first quarter after coming out of nowhere last year to rank among the top companies.

According to data compiled by IDC, Apple's still the second-leading smartphone maker in the U.S. behind Research in Motion and the BlackBerry franchise. But it lost market share going from the fourth quarter to the first at the expense of RIM and Palm, according to the figures provided by IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.

RIM's market share went from 35.1 percent in the fourth quarter to 44.… Read more

Palm CEO talks up 'Nova,' his 2009 operating system

Palm CEO Ed Colligan says the company's long-awaited operating system of the future will center around the Internet, and be distinct from the familiar Palm OS that's currently available.

Palm has been somewhat tight-lipped about the future of its operating system development, but Colligan gave an interview to APC in which he described the "Nova" OS as a "next-generation operating system with much more capabilities, driven around the Internet and Web-based applications." Nova will be based on a Linux core and is scheduled to arrive next year.

The idea is to return to what … Read more

Palm opens its Virtual Developer Lab

It's one thing to bang out a quick third-party program for a single phone model, and quite another to develop a mobile application that works as predicted on a battalion of cell phone models, each with their own set of finely cultured specs.

For numerous reasons, developers may not have all those phones at the ready, and when it comes time for final testing, emulators that live on the screen and mimic device behavior just aren't good enough.

If you're Palm, a mobile platform and device manufacturer that's fighting for its slimmed-down market share, you'd … Read more

Windows Server 2008 goes down-market

Microsoft is set to announce Tuesday that it is launching a "public preview" program for two server products based on its Windows Server 2008 operating system.

The products, one aimed at small business and the other at midsize firms, combine the server operating system with Exchange Server and other software into a bundle designed to cost less and be easier to install than acquiring the products separately.

Small Business Server 2008 is an update to an existing small business product, while Windows Essential Server Solutions 2008 (formerly code-named Centro) is a new product, targeted at midsize firms that … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 695: Pass the caffeinated rabbit

It turns out that if you give a rabbit enough coffee, it won't get dementia. And neither will you! (Long story--we'll explain.) In other news, Apple is now the No. 1 retailer in the United States, and Comcast launches 50Mbps broadband in Minneapolis/St. Paul, which actually launches us into a big Comcast rant. Sorry, Comcast. Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 695

Apple passes Wal-Mart, now No. 1 music retailer in U.S. http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/ 20080402-apple-passes-wal-mart-now-1-music-retailer-in-us.html

As expected, MySpace unveils new music service http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9910344-7.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/03/ technology/03cnd-myspace.html … Read more

Palm's Centro lifts sales, but not revenue or profits

Palm's Centro continues to sell well, but it's going to be a long time before the company's business gets back in the black.

Palm reported its financial results for its fiscal third quarter Thursday. Let's get the good news out of the way first: the Centro lifted Palm to its best smartphone quarter in its history, with 833,000 units on a "sell-through" basis, meaning phones that were actually purchased by people, not retailers.

The problem is that at $99, the Centro doesn't generate a lot of revenue or profit on those unit … Read more

Get a Palm Centro smartphone free with two-year Sprint plan

I'm all tingly: Cell phone store Wirefly is offering the Palm Centro smartphone for free with a two-year Sprint service plan. Normally, the Centro runs $99.99 after a mail-in rebate; this deal requires no rebate and even includes free shipping. Hence the tingling.

I won't go into major detail about the Centro, as I've already written a fairly exhaustive review. What I'll add is that after several months of ownership, I'm very happy with it. It does flake out at times, to the point where I have to yank the battery to reset the … Read more