When you have one of the elite exec’s in the company call up the manufacturer and say “reduce output to 0 within a month”, it generally doesn’t foreshadow a happy ending. That’s precisely what Palm has done today however. According to OTR Global report, (3) separate sources have confirmed that all future orders for the Palm Pre and Pre Plus are to be halted immediately. Bad news for Pre hopefuls.
Pixie users may or may not have escaped this bizarre chopping block from above with OTR’s various sources claiming different things. One account has the Pixie and Pixie Plus suffering the same fate as their bigger brothers — 0 output. But another source goes on to say that the Pixie Plus destined for Verizon will continue on, albeit in extremely limited numbers — less than 5,000 units.
Calling this a shock would be an understatement to say the least. Rumors are already flying that Palm is being bought out. Though I’d think we would have heard at least a rumor of such before getting to this anyway. Whatever it is, it’s pretty big news. Feel free to leave what you know below. Sort it out…
The OTR Report:
Palm Inc. Alert
Palm Orders Production Halt of Pre and Pre+ in February
February 11, 2010
Key sources in the Taiwan handset supply chain said Palm Inc. has ordered assembler Foxconn International Holdings Co. Ltd. to suspend production of both the Pre and Pre+ in February. “The decision is very sudden, and Foxconn was told to reduce all February Pre forecast to zero on Wednesday and nobody knows whether shipment will resume in March,” said a key source. The source said the CDMA2000 Pre to Sprint and the CDMA2000 Pre+ to Verizon were affected.
Pixi Production Suspended Too?
One source said Palm also told Compal Communications Inc. to suspend shipment of the Pixi and Pixi+ in February, while another source said that production is still going ahead with the Pixi+ to Verizon, but actual delivery in February will amount to less than 5,000 units.
Back when the Palm Pre was launched, Sprint boasted of their exclusive deal with Palm concerning webOS. (A lot of good that did them…) Verizon countered with an “end of year” release of webOS themselves. Obviously they were a bit too excited as Sprint ended up being correct — that Verizon wasn’t getting any webOS love until 2010.
Well, 2010 is just around the corner and tonight we can now feast our eyes upon the very training documents VZW employees are currently consuming, prepping for the big webOS launch day. I originally thought and still think that the Pre is pretty hot. The Pixie not so much, but the Pre has got something special. With a new home on Verizon do you think webOS, the Pre, and Palm can turn their fortunes around?
Palm has had a rather tough time so far getting webOS off the ground. The Pre has more or less done pretty good though it’s short of what I’d call a blow out success. Still, Palm still has some fight (or is it just reflexes on a dead carcass now…?) left in them. The Palm Pixie isn’t as high end as the Pre, but it’s purpose in life isn’t to steal the hearts and minds of the high end market. The Pixie is meant to bring up the bottom end — to usher in droves of new users who may not have had a smartphone before.
So far Sprint is the only US carrier to get in on the webOS action. But a new FCC filing shows a new CDMA Pixie complete with WiFi pushing it’s way into the forefront of our minds and hopefully hands with an early 2010 release — on Verizon.
Verizon has already mentioned on many occasions through various channels that they’d like to bring webOS to their network. The Pre was a hot item at launch with Verizon boasting that Sprint’s exclusive wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Sprint cracked back saying VZW wasn’t coming anywhere near their webOS exclusive. For the Pre that may be true, but the Pixie is a completely different ball game.
Speculation aside, a new Pixie variant coming down the pipeline coupled with Verizon’s previous claims stating their intentions, we can only assume an early 2010 release for the Pixie. If I were to pick up a webOS device, it would be the Pre hands down. The Pixie form factor is just so so for me. But everyone is different. Which would you take: Pixie or Pre? VZW users, are you stoked?
To get any background functionality out of your iPhone, you know Jailbreaking is involved. So if the process is too much for you to handle or you’re too paranoid about all of the “What ifs”, go ahead and continue on anyway. The Palm Pre and webOS have one of the most visually pleasing and effective ways of managing running processes with the use of “cards”. It’s fast and easy to keep the clutter down and your phone operating in tip top shape. That same convenience can now be had by jailbroken iPhone users. If those fears of iPhone worms from hell are still pinging in your mind, please remember the only people this effects are those not smart enough to change the default password to SSH into the phone — simple step folks. With that said, the card-like app switching/process managing deal looks pretty darn good on Apple’s finest. To get the point across, a nice motion picture is included, click your way on in…
The Palm Pre isn’t even that old yet and already we’re looking at what can replace it. Can Palm’s lower end device dubbed “Pixie” attract more followers with it’s lower price point? It’s a mixed bag for me. Sure it’s cheaper, but I’d rather have the Pre’s form factor. The Pixie just looks weird — too long and cheaply made. Then again I’m one person. Give the vid above a look and see if the as of now unreleased Pixie and webOS 1.3.1 have anything hidden that could change your mind.
If you’re down with WebOS and can’t wait for the next iteration, want a smaller version of the Pre, or simply have been holding off on all of this webOS business until more devices come out of Palm HQ, I’m happy to say your wait can now officially be over. Introducing the Palm Pixie, the smaller, slider-less version of the Pre. Featuring a more standard candybar design, the Pixie (a.k.a. Eos) houses a smaller 2.63″ touchscreen on the front fascia of this equally sleek device. CDMA and EV-DO Rev. A are crammed inside the tight shell at the unfortunate expense of WiFi. *sigh* Perhaps one day Sprint will start making the wireless standard a…um…standard. As your eyes move down the feature list, expect to see such things as 2 megapixel life capturing hardware with illuminator, 3.5 mm headphone jack, GPS, and 8GB of internal memory to store all of those precious digital bits. Also, the now standard Touchstone wireless charging accessory is gleefully supported. Prepare your credit cards folks.
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Palm has had a rather tough time so far getting webOS off the ground. The Pre has more or less done pretty good though it’s short of what I’d call a blow out success. Still, Palm still has some fight (or is it just reflexes on a dead carcass now…?) left in them. The Palm Pixie isn’t as high end as the Pre, but it’s purpose in life isn’t to steal the hearts and minds of the high end market. The Pixie is meant to bring up the bottom end — to usher in droves of new users who may not have had a smartphone before. 
