Times are tricky at Palm.

Though its webOS continues to gain praise and the firm has made great strides in securing third-party backing, Palm's recent financial results have done little to calm fears that it is quickly playing itself out of contention.

As mocoNews reports, with Android building up sales in the States, and Windows Phone 7's momentum growing, Palm has a limited window of opportunity in which to turn the corner.

AT&T team-up

Today's confirmation that the company has secured a deal with AT&T to sell Pre Plus and Pixi handsets in "the coming months" can only be seen as a positive move in this respect.

Palm has previously criticised its current carrier partner Verizon for failing to push the Pre to a significant degree at launch.

As a result, Palm claims more than 550,000 handsets shipped in Q3 remain unsold, something that will likely severely impact possible Q4 revenues.

"AT&T and Palm have a history of smartphone leadership, and today's announcement is a significant milestone for us," Palm chairman and CEO Jon Rubinstein said of the deal with AT&T.

"With Palm webOS phones coming to AT&T, Palm can help most anyone in the United States stay connected so they never miss a thing."

Connecting with consumers

This connectivity would seem to form the backbone of the firm's new advertising push for the Palm Pre.

 

Palm has already launched a new ad in the US (see below) designed to stress the functionality of the phone, but Rubinstein has confirmed that the company will switch focus to cheaper online marketing afterwards in order to drill down costs.

With rivals like Microsoft able to call on an open wallet to back Windows Phone 7 handsets at launch and beyond, Palm will be hoping the new ad and deal with AT&T gives its userbase a sharp kick upwards before Microsoft debuts its OS, and Apple inevitably launches a new iPhone handset later this year.



[source: mocoNews]