Palm To Release Four Smartphones in 2006

Palm, Inc. has reported revenue of US$444.6 million in its second quarter of fiscal year 2006, ended 2 December 2005. This number is, according to officials with the company, up 18 percent from the year-ago period.

During the quarter Palm has added seven new carriers to expand the geographic reach of its products. This was the first time the company began selling Treo smartphones in China.

The company has shipped more than 1 million Treo smartphones during the first half of fiscal year 2006, which is just less than what was shipped in all of fiscal year 2005.

A big announcement came from Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer of Palm, when he declared "We'll roll out the Palm Treo 700w smartphone based on Microsoft's Windows Mobile, and we'll announce three additional new smartphones during calendar year 2006."

Net income was US$260.9 million, or US$5.02 per diluted share. Net income reflected the effect of a partial reversal of a deferred tax asset valuation allowance of US$226.3 million. This compares to net income for the second quarter of fiscal year 2005 of US$24.7 million, or US$0.48 per diluted share.