Todays & Tomorrows Technology

Palm have announced their Q4 and full-year 2009 financial results [pdf link], covering the period up to the end of May 29th. Palm chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein revealed full-year revenues of $735.9m and gross profit of $159.8m; he went on to describe the launch of the Palm Pre and webOS shortly after the period finished as when the company “officially reentered the race”. That’s good news, because while smartphone shipments in Q4 rose 6-percent from Q3, year-over-year decline for the quarter was a huge 62-percent.
In Q4 2009, then, Palm report total revenues of $86.8m, with gross profit of $20.1m and a gross margin of 23.1-percent. That amounts to a net loss to common shareholders of $105m, or $0.78 per diluted common share; that’s more than twice the net loss in fiscal-year 2008.

Rubinstein remained positive, however, suggesting that the Pre was a “major milestone in Palm’s transformation” and pointing to “a large group of developers waiting to build great applications for Palm webOS”. He also tipped “a new product pipeline” which is presumed to include the Palm Eos, also based on webOS.

Developers playing with Palm’s webOS have discovered a method whereby software can be installed on an unhacked Pre. The system emails a .ipk link to the app, and seemingly takes advantage of a loophole in the platform to bypass Palm’s security.

For the end-user, installing an app is as straightforward as tapping on a link in their email and allowing the Pre’s browser to open it. That automatically downloads and installs the software; currently the only publicly available app is a proof-of-concept that installs a non-functional shortcut icon to the Pre’s launcher.

Frankly, we’re fully expecting Palm to step in and put a stop to this sort of software distribution with an update to webOS. Not only does it present a security risk, where naive Pre users may click to load a malware app without realizing, but it bypasses the official app store and thus denies Palm themselves any cut of paid-app profits (or the ability to decline certain apps it doesn’t want released). They’re likely to put more emphasis on the security reasons, though.

Say what you like about the Pre, Palm aren’t holding back when it comes to positioning their new smartphone in the best possible way. After Apple released a support note warning non-iPod users (e.g. Palm Pre owners) that their ability to sync with iTunes could be broken with future software updates, Palm have described such an action as “a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience.”
“Apple is aware that some third-parties claim that their digital media players are able to sync with Apple software. However, Apple does not provide support for, or test for compatibility with, non-Apple digital media players and, because software changes over time, newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players.” Apple

Indeed, Palm are of the opinion that locking the Pre out of iTunes would only damage Apple’s reputation. Their argument is the same as was suggested when the iTunes announcement was first made: that Apple will appear petty if they move to limit access to the software.

“Palm’s media sync works with the current version of iTunes. If Apple chooses to disable media sync in a future version of iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we could consider.” Lynn Fox, spokesperson, Palm

The Pre presents itself to iTunes as a basic iPod, not as some sort of third-party device; to prevent that, Apple would have to specifically identify the smartphone during the connection process and single it out. Whether they’re willing to do that to protect their software remains to be seen: while it would stop Palm from piggybacking on iTunes, it would also likely push users away from the iTunes Store altogether. Any third-party application Palm decided to implement would probably use Amazon’s MP3 download service, a client for which is already loaded on the Pre.

Hacking the Pre isn’t just about running Doom on the smartphone: it also promises to unlock currently forbidden functionality such as tethering. The Pre Dev Wiki had been one such team working on that, but after a “polite” warning from Palm themselves have ceased publicly discussing it: it seems Palm is concerned, not that webOS might be modified, but that Sprint may demand the manufacturer step in and prevent users overstepping their contracts.
Sprint do not currently offer a tethering option for the Pre, and as such attempting to use it as an external 3G modem for a laptop or other device would contravene a subscriber’s contract. If that happened, Palm obviously expect the carrier to turn up on their doorstep looking for the hackers responsible to be curtailed, something Palm doesn’t seem particularly concerned about doing themselves.

Of course, we’ve already seen one hack of the Sprint CDMA Pre which bypassed the carrier’s activation and turned it into a WiFi-only device. That can’t be something Sprint would find particularly appealing either, especially if it’s as easy as reported. This seems a fine line for Palm to be walking: they seem to recognize that supporting – or at least not hindering – fan community tinkering can in fact boost the profile and appeal of a new platform, as happened with the original iPhone, but they of course have to keep on the good side of their carrier partners.

Reviews of the Palm Pre have been generally positive, teething problems notwithstanding, but a common source of complain among reviewers and owners alike is the smartphone’s battery. Accessory manufacturer Seidio are never one to let an opportunity like that slim them by, and so they’ve announced that an extended battery for the Palm Pre, offering nearly twice the capacity of the standard pack, is in development.
Right now there are no exact figures being talking about. We’re assuming the image above is of a generic Seidio battery, because you can make out “1,350mAh” written on it and that certainly falls short of double the Pre’s standard 1,150mAh pack. Nor are the company discussing runtime estimates, though we’d hope for roughly a double lifetime which should guarantee the Pre all-day stamina.

A new, rubberized battery door which makes the Pre thicker “only by millimeters” will also be included, so if you already think the Palm smartphone is too plump then maybe this isn’t for you. No word on pricing or availability, but we doubt this will be the only aftermarket battery alternative to choose from.

Prepare for more Palm Pre carrier confusion, as the Wall Street Journal reports that their source tips a Pre launch on Verizon Wireless come January 2010. The leak comes mere days after Sprint CEO Dan Hesse suggested that rival Verizon may like to “check its facts” over the length of the Pre exclusivity deal Sprint has signed with Palm.


That retort came after Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam’s well-publicized suggestion that handsets “like the Palm Pre” would be showing up on their shelves in the next six months. The comment led to speculation that Palm and Sprint had arranged a six month exclusivity deal that would likely run up until the end of 2009.

The WSJ doesn’t name its source, only claim it is a “person familiar with the situation”. As we pointed out on Friday, Hesse’s comments did not lay out exactly the length of the sole-provider agreement, nor did it confirm or deny that it was any longer or indeed shorter than six months. Sales of the Pre over its launch weekend set new records for Sprint, but the freshly-announced iPhone 3G S and the ongoing talk of a Verizon version may dampen enthusiasm over the rest of 2009.

Palm’s “webOS Reset Doctor”, the tool intended to be used to reflash broken or bricked Palm Pre handsets, has leaked, and with it the full webOS ROM. Intended only for internal use, the ROM has already been cracked over in the PreCentral forums, and it’s throwing up not only some interesting tidbits about Palm’s intentions for the Pre but about the rumored Eos second device said to be launching later this year.

Mention has been found in the code of both “castle”, assumed to be the Pre’s internal codename, and “pixie”, which has previously been tipped as the codename for the Eos. Palm have never hidden the fact that the Pre is to be the first device of many to use webOS, but the presence of “pixie” in this first-gen code does seem to suggest that the handset is set to arrive sooner rather than later.

Elsewhere in the ROM, icons for MSN and AOL have been unearthed, together with a Java Virtual Machine. There are also plenty of comments left by webOS’ developers, including the somewhat worrying “# what the hell does this do?”

It was arguably the unofficial developer community that accelerated the original iPhone to success: while Apple were attempting to corral programmers into creating simple webapps, those with access to the hacked (aka jailbroken) core of the iPhone could use the same functionality that Apple’s own apps did. Might this be the turning point for the Pre, too?

Over 50,000 people may have taken home a box just like this at some time over the weekend, according to J.P. Morgan analyst Paul Cooster. While Palm and Sprint are yet to comment regarding first-weekend Pre sales, analysts have tentatively pegged the figures as ranging from 35,000 to 60,000, with shortages of the smartphone having a significant impact on numbers.