Palm claims larger share of smartphone market, has Centro to thank

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 2nd 2008 at 4:20PM

What's this? Some joyous news on the Palm front? No need to Windex your spectacles -- the aforementioned handset maker has indeed managed to up its share of the smartphone market from 7.9% in the fourth quarter to 13.4% today, largely thanks to the popularity of its Centro. In general, analysts seemed quite pleased by the gains, noting that it (along with RIM) were able to take advantage of the 7.5% skid experienced by Apple during the same period. Despite the recent gains, Palm's market share is still down from 23% in Q1 a year ago, but considering the sweeping slump in cellphone sales of late, we'd say this should still go down as a victory -- however minor -- for the firm.

[Via Palm InfoCenter]

Filed under: Handsets, Palm, Palm OS, Studies

Tags: business, centro, gains, industry, market share, MarketShare, palm, quarter, sales

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

RalphDGibson @ Jun 2nd 2008 4:29PM

...and when the new Treo hits the market (contingent on a reasonable price) they will own an even larger share of the market. I do believe that there is light at the end of Palm's tunnel.

Neutral

Kevin @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:38PM

Most people complaint about Palm OS is that it looks dated, that is easily solved just by chanching the skin:

http://www.3gxsoft.com/palmrevolt/

or here for freeware skins:

http://www.palmpowerups.com/readarticle.php?article_id=2

They look much better than Blackberry and WinMo IMHO.

And about multitasking, I don't see that as an issue, I can hear music on a palm handheld and at the same time run IM on the background an surf the web. Not real multitasking but works well.

Neutral

Steve @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:40PM

I also don't uderstant why people complaint so much about Palm OS vs WM (by the way Palm sells WM phones too nut just Palm OS.)

In the general phone market the real ones gettin the lion's share of sales are not WM, iPhone or Blackberry, the largest market share is owned by regular feture phones running crappy unknown propietary "os" that does not do multitasking or even run installable apps.

Another example of the OS being insignificant to consumers is the eeePC, the linux version has a very stripped down version of Xandros linux that is archaic and limited. Also it is abailable with Windows XP (a 7 years old OS!). This has not stopped it from being a market success.

People say Palm Os is old, XP is older and still it is used and loved by many!!!

The lesson here is that non geek consumers want a device that is small, cheap and does what they need. And the Centro is doing that for many consumers.

Neutral

Kim @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:42PM

You are right. For most people Os is irrelevant when selecting a device.

Remember the MotoRAZR?

It had a crappy OS minimal amount of RAM and shitty cammera on top of that it had a whooping high price. Regardless of that it sold incredibly well and put Motorola on the top at the time.

Most people when buying a phone don't even know what OS it is running neither do they care. They buy the phone for its phisical looks mostly. The centro is the smallest full QWERTY phone available. Many regular phone users refused to move to smartphones due to the size and price centro solves both.

Low Ranked

Yakownski @ Jun 2nd 2008 6:45PM

Another nail in Palm Coffin!!!!

Palm is doooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedddddddddddddddd.

So is Nintendo. Wii what a silly name they think they will sell even 100 of those stupid white iPod wannabe consoles?

And the Centro another stupid white iPod wanabe. I bet Palm won't even sell 50 of those crappy phones.

Neutral

rseijas @ Jun 2nd 2008 8:08PM

Color me shocked! I was predicting the imminent demise of Palm until very recently. Perhaps the Centro will have the staying power to see Palm through to a new OS and some exciting models, like the Treo 850. I'm glad to see Palm surviving and perhaps even thriving. Surprised, but glad.

Neutral

There are no Nobel laureates for Economics, because there is no Nobel Economics Prize.

The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel is an attempt to "cash in" (excuse the pun) on the prestige of the five Nobel Prizes established in Alfred Nobel's will. It's sponsored by a bank, for heavens' sake.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sveriges_Riksbank_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences_in_Memory_of_Alfred_Nobel

/petpeeve

Highly Ranked

backbeat @ Jun 3rd 2008 11:29AM

If you actually knew what you were talking about, you would have correctly recognized that the terms I used were both accurate and correctly in context. Are all graduates of Wikipedia so poorly informed?

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/

Neutral