Looks like Palm (NSDQ: PALM) had a heck of a June. At least, in comparison to previous numbers. According to Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder, Palm Pre sales in June hit over 300,000 units. Not too shabby at all, especially when you consider only 120,000 units were available at startup. Since then, Palm has cranked up production to around 15,000 units per day, to help meet demand.

On top of all this, a WCDMA version of the Pre is on the horizon, which should help Palm push sales of the Pre up above 1 million per month. The WCDMA version would be launched by Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) sometime this fall (September-ish)… and when you put that together with Sprint (NYSE: S), and a planned launch by Bell north-of-the-border… The outlook and cashflow issues are lookin’ pretty darn good for Palm these days.

[Via: Barron's]

Investors weren’t thrilled with RIM’s outlook for the upcoming quarter, despite reporting an impressive $643.03 million U.S. in earnings (up from $482.5 million last year) for the first quarter of fiscal 2010.  3.8 million new subscribers puts the grand total of BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) users up to 28.5 million, which is a growth rate about on par with previous quarters.  Between now and August 29th., RIM hopes to tack on another 3.8 - 4.1 million subscribers and rake in $3.45-$3.70 billion in revenue. Here are some of the reactions.

“Expectations going into this were really, really high so I think there’s going to be a little bit of disappointment with the guidance. … The guidance is a little better than initially thought from the report, but still others thought the numbers would be higher, so it’s going to be a volatile name.” - Canaccord Adams analyst Peter Misek

“They continue to do phenomenally well. There was obviously increased expectations. There was chatter that the numbers could even be bigger.” - Genuity Capital Markets analyst Deepak Chopra

“The stock had doubled this year and when expectations get that high and you don’t exceed them, you take it on the chin.” - Avian Securities analyst Matt Thornton

“The pressure on RIM is growing. It’s not just the iPhone anymore but a second competitor with something that is possibly even better than the iPhone operating system. [Referring to the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre]” - TCW Group analyst Nirav Parikh

Despite flattening growth, at least the numbers are going in the right direction, which is more than we can say for some manufacturers.

[via RIM]

Washington D.C. is looking more and more like a high school popularity contest where everyone dresses in expensive suits and drives around in luxury cars provided by tax-payers, doing whatever they can to get as many people to think they’re “cool.” And, just like high school, the kids on Capitol Hill tend to flock to the same fads. Which isn’t always a bad thing. The latest fad seems to be all about consumer protection from wireless industry giants like AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) Wireless. More specifically, our politicians are apparently becoming more and more concerned with consumer choice, fair pricing and competition in the US wireless market.

US Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin) has asked that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) investigate the competitiveness of the US wireless market. As chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights, Senator Kohl is concerned that the 100% increase in the price of SMS text messages from 2006 to 2008 might be “the result of a lack of competition” in a wireless eco-system where 90% of the market is controlled by a select few - Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint (NYSE: S) Nextel and T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) USA.

The issue at hand is whether the Big Four wireless carriers, especially AT&T and Verizon Wireless, violated anti-trust laws by colluding to increase SMS text message prices over the years. On the surface, that does indeed seem to be the case. All four major US wireless carriers have increased the price of their text messages from 10 cents to 20 cents. But, Verizon Executive VP and general counsel Randal Milch denies any collusion - pointing out that carriers offer different pricing for prepaid plans.

Both AT&T and Verizon Wireless defended their position by noting that only a small percentage of their customers (17%) were affected by the text message price increase. Most text message customers opt for text messaging bundles that offer cut-rates on SMS messages. Big Blue and Big Red say that just 1% of all text messages sent through their networks are not tied to text messaging plans.

More competition is always good for the consumer. And, it’s important to ensure healthy competition in a market that’s controlled by just a handful of huge companies. With a little luck, the past few days of political posturing will keep consumer rights at the forefront of Congress’s agenda (but not ahead of the economy, of course).

[Via: LATimes]

Things are slowly moving forward in the US wireless ecosystem. The White House has announced that it will back an initiative to repeal a decades-old law requiring any personal use of a business cellphone to be recorded in detail. The announcement follows another commendable move on the part of a group of US Senators that have asked the FCC to investigate the fairness of exclusivity agreements between wireless carriers and handset makers.

The 1989 law requires that any company looking to deduct its corporate mobile phone usage keep detailed records of when personal calls are being made on the business cellphone. But, according to the Obama administration, the “passage of time, advances in technology, and the nature of communication in the modern workplace have rendered this law obsolete.” We agree. A lot has changed (yes, even in the US - although it may not feel like it) in the wireless world in the past couple decades. Wireless minutes are cheap, so cheap in fact that there’s really no need to keep track of minute-by-minute usage of company handsets.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman are asking Congress “to make clear that there will be no tax consequence to employers or employees for personal use of work-related devices such as cellphones provided by employers.”

Score one for the both teams! Employees and employers are set to benefit from having the law repealed

[Via: Reuters]

When it comes to buying a mobile phone, there’s more to consider than just the up-front price tag. The “total cost of ownership” (TCO) is sometimes a more revealing way to consider the overall cost of a particular cellphone. Especially when two phones offer similar sticker prices. For example, the two hottest smartphones this summer are the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) iPhone 3G S, and both are available for $200 when purchased with new 2-year contract. So, which handset costs more in the long run?

Phone bill comparison site BillShrink crunched the numbers and have posted a new comparison of the iPhone 3G S, T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) G1 and Palm Pre’s total cost of ownership. Turns out, the Palm Pre is the cheaper smartphone to own in the long run. A Palm Pre paired with Sprint (NYSE: S)’s unlimited voice, data and messaging plans will take a total of $2,400 out of your wallet after two years, but an Apple iPhone 3G S with unlimited voice, data and messaging from AT&T (NYSE: T) will ding you for $3,600 over the course of the 2-year wireless contract. That makes the Palm Pre a $1,200 cheaper smartphone.

But, that’s not the end of the story.

BillShrink’s comparison pits the Palm Pre against the iPhone 3G S on similar rate plans. But, the Palm Pre can only be purchased with one of Sprint’s unlimited plans, whereas the iPhone 3G S can be paired with lower-cost monthly rate plans. In a true Apples-to-apples comparison, the Palm Pre’s TCO proves cheaper. However, when you consider that most people won’t need unlimited messaging or voice minutes, the iPhone 3G S’s TCO may not be that much more expensive than the Palm Pre.

If unlimited voice and messaging isn’t important to you, both the iPhone 3G S and Palm Pre are likely to cost about the same over two years. But, if you really need unlimited voice minutes and messaging allotments, the Palm Pre is the obviously better deal.

[Via: BillShrink]

It’s not recession for everyone. Provider of the “Software-as-a-Service” mobile marketing platform for agencies and brands, Celtra, has recently announced that it has secured Series A financing from RSG Capital, a Slovenian based venture capital fund.

The company’s service is touted as a “comprehensive mobile marketing solution suite, which includes SMS, MMS, Voice IVR, WAP and Mobile applications.” It is designed from marketing perspective and offers customization and creative freedom to developers, providing a “single-access-point” solution to creative agencies to enable fast and simple campaign creation, deployment, management, distribution, and tracking.

Among the existing companies that have used the service are the leading entertainment brands such as 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros and Paramount for movie release campaigns like Sex and the City, Meet the Spartans, What happens in Vegas, Tropic Thunder and others.

Celtra is headquartered in the Cambridge, MA with office in Cambridge Innovation Center. They’ve also announced opening of a regional R&D and sales office in Ljubljana, Slovenia to expand its operations to Europe.

Leap Wireless, which we know for its Cricket Wireless service, announced that it intends to offer and sell 7 million shares of its common stock in an underwritten public offering. The company wants to use the money raised for the expansion and improvement of its network footprint, acquisitions of additional spectrum or complementary businesses, and the deployment of next-generation network technology.

The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed with the SEC. And from the press release, we see that Leap selected Goldman Sachs as a lead underwriter…

[Via: PhoneScoop]

The iPhone’s initial successes in the smartphone market warrant at least a passing mention. In just a couple years’ time, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) has managed to jump-start the touchscreen smartphone market and drive adoption into the mainstream. All the while, BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)-maker RIM has been riding the smartphone wave all the way to the bank. Both Apple and RIM have significant smartphone market share, but in terms of the overall mobile phone market, neither company makes a big dent. So, it’s a good thing market share doesn’t always tell the whole story. Sometimes, it’s more important to look at a company’s operating profits.

When we look at the operating profits of companies like Apple, RIM, Nokia and Samsung, we see some really interesting trends. Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff put together some charts to make this easier to see. A quick gander at the charts clearly shows that Apple and RIM are pulling down increasingly larger and larger shares of the mobile industry’s operating profits. Apple’s operating profits have risen from 3% in 2007, to 20% in 2008, and is expected to hit 31% in 2009. More impressive are RIM’s numbers, which claims 8% of industry operating profits in 2007, 19% in 2008, and is expected to pull down 35% in 2009. Samsung has also managed to grow its share of operating profits, going from 14% in 2008 to 19% in 2009.

Meanwhile, market leader (in terms of global cellphone shipments) Nokia has been seeing its share of operating profits dropping sharply. Nokia boasted 64% of the industry’s profits in 2007, which dropped to 57% in 2008, and is projected to be just 32% in 2009. The numbers tell a not-so-surprising story - the smartphone sector is growing like wildfire and trend-setters Apple and RIM are leading the charge.

While RIM and Apple are still growing their relatively small share of the global cellphone market, it’s more important to note that both companies are pulling down enormous profits that will likely fuel growth in the years to come. Nokia needs to fight back, and fight hard. As amazing as the smartphone might be, Nokia’s upcoming Nokia N97 flagship may not be enough to bring the phone maker’s profits back to 2007 levels.

It looks like the mighty iPhone has been felled by one of the best mobile browsers on the market. New stats from the aptly-named research firm StatCounter confirms that the iPhone is no longer king of the mobile-browser-hill. With a 24.6% share of the global mobile browser market, Opera Mobile has overtaken the iPhone as the world’s top mobile browser. The iPhone, by contrast, managed to pull in just 22.3% of the worldwide market. Nokia (NYSE: NOK)’s Symbian browsers trail in third place with 17.9% of the world’s mobile browser share.

“Opera began the year in number one slot but iPhone overtook it in February. May saw Opera regain the number one position,” commented Aodhan Cullen, CEO and founder of StatCounter. “It will be fascinating to watch how this battle plays out over the year.”

Indeed, it should be exciting to see how the Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre’s WebOS, Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)’s new iPhone and the bevy of smartphones running Opera Mobile will compete for market share this year. Of course, there’s also competition from the somewhat handicapped BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM) web browsers, which claims fourth place after Nokia’s Symbian browsers, but BlackBerry’s 6.9% global market share reflects its awkwardly slow mobile browser.

Mail-in rebates are a hassle. Fiscally, they’re just as good as cash, but the mental overhead in dealing with mail-in rebate forms and whatnot is just more than some people want to deal with. Those people are likely going to be headed to a Best Buy or RadioShack retailer to pick up their Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre, where the Sprint (NYSE: S) retail partners are offering instant rebates on the Palm Pre. But, Sprint is apparently mulling the option of replacing the $100 Palm Pre mail-in rebate with the instant variety - or so goes the rumor from PalmGoon.

The rumor comes from one of PalmGoon’s Sprint sources, and is said to be a minor discussion within Sprint. But, as PreCentral notes, Sprint stores have already been stocked with Palm Pre forms that confirm the Palm Pre’s mail-in rebate.

Still, the move would make sense. Sprint would presumably want to attract more customers to its stores (and away from its partners), where it makes a killing on accessory-sales (like Palm Pre cases and the TouchStone dock). And, it seems Palm has changed their website to reflect the Palm Pre’s $199.99 retail price as being ” “after rebate and service agreement,” where before it referred to “mail-in rebate and service agreement.”

[Via: PalmGoon]