Palm Inc, whose shares have fallen 90 percent this year, cut the price of its new m500 handheld computer by 18 percent, about four months after putting the device on sale.
Palm lowered the price to US$329 from US$399, the company Web site said. The company's m505, which features a color screen, remains at US$449. The computers went on sale in late April and early May.
Palm and rivals such as Handspring Inc have cut prices in recent months as sales lag amid the slowing economy. Demand has been weak for Palm's m500 because consumers willing to buy a new computer for several hundred dollars will spend the extra money for the color screen and buy the m505, analysts said.
"It doesn't seem to be moving," said Michael Kim, an analyst with Robertson Stephens, who rates Palm "market perform" and doesn't own shares. "Consumers at the high-end of the handheld market are really price insensitive. They don't care about the US$50 price difference." Palm officials declined to comment.
Palm, which couldn't make enough devices to satisfy demand last year, has been plagued by bloated inventories this year. The company cut prices on its older devices in April as sales slowed just as the company ramped up production.
Palm had a loss of US$392.1 million in its fourth quarter ended in June, including a US$268.9 million charge for writing off excess inventory and parts.
Handspring, which makes devices based on Palm's operating system, last month cut prices on most of its products to spur demand and clear inventory as it prepares to introduce new computers.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese