According to an OTR Global report, no less than three different sources have confirmed that all future orders of the Palm Pre and Palm Pre Plus are being suspended as of today (Wednesday).
As reported in BGR, one of the sources said, “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.”
We’ll be hot on the case to check out if there’s any truth in this story, but it seems a mighty dramatic and unexpected step.
Could Palm be being bought out by another company? Is there some new hardware coming out (which we wouldn’t complain about seeing as we always thought that the webOS deserved something equally brilliant)? Or is there something else going on?
Here’s the news report:
Palm Inc. Alert
Palm Orders Production Halt of Pre and Pre+ in FebruaryFebruary 11, 2010
PALM, S, VZ, 2038 HK, 8078 TT
Sources: 3 sources Taiwan handset component supply chain (all repeats)
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.
Or Palm are about to go bust..?
From InformationWeek:
According to Palm, the company halted production in Taiwan in observance of the Chinese New Year. Production will be resumed at the end of February. Palm over-produced ahead of the shut-down to make up for the lost volume. I’ll have a more efficient statement as soon as Palm delivers one.
Palm’s director of corporate communication, Derick Mains, said in an email, “Palm regularly adjusts its product manufacturing levels to manage inventory. In anticipation of the Verizon Wireless launch and Chinese New Year, we increased production levels prior to February, and anticipate ramping production back up after the Chinese New Year ends.”
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2010/02/palm_halts_prod.html
Yep just read the same…