Palm Lost $5 Million in a Warehouse Robbery! Q3FY09 Details
Palm played things very close to the chest during their investor conference call announcing their Q3FY09 financial results. Let's bullet point it up:
- they're still very firm that the Pre will launch in the "next 15 weeks" (that's just another way of saying 1st half of 2009, if you're wondering),
- they are still very excited about their new hires,
- they still believe they're in a firm cash position to be able to successfully launch the Pre,
- they still are keeping mum about European carriers,
- they still intend to have some key 3rd party applications available at launch in their App Store,
- they still make next to nothing on Centro sales (which is why their gross margins were a measly 5% last quarter)
- they still believe that there is plenty of room for the Pre in a crowded smartphone space, given how fast it is growing
You're probably wondering about that headline, though, so are we. While we await details from Palm (Update: Palm says "no comment"), what we do know is that part of their reported Q3 losses came from a $5 million dollar hit from a robbery, Palm's new CFO Doug Jeffries tells the tale:
Our GAAP reporting also includes a five million casualty loss in Q3 from a theft which occurred at one of our third party operated warehouses. This loss is covered by insurance and we will recognize a recovery when we receive the insurance proceeds.
Yipes. Good thing Palm's getting that $5 million back, if you haven't caught the storyline yet -- they're going to need that cash.
