The AP is reporting that Palm has warned investors about "lower-than-expected revenue in the first quarter due to a decline in retail shipments of its Treo smartphones." The news has dropped Palm's stock price in the markets.

While that's bad news for the Treo market, CEO Ed Colligan offered hope that Palm is on the verge of turning things around by mentioning not one but two new upcoming Treos that will operate on GSM networks:

"We will soon address the market dynamics responsible for our first quarter revenue shortfall with two major product launches, one that improves our pricing position and both which extend our carrier relationships to global markets. Overall smartphone sell-through was up quarter over quarter, and our balance sheet is in excellent shape."

"One that improves our pricing position" - that's another nice piece of news.

Palm is announcing a new Treo with Vodaphone on Sept. 12th. Their quarterly earnings statement is due Sept 21st.

Update: At least one analyst thinks that this makes Palm stock an "interesting stock" in comparison to RIM, according to Forbes. (Thanks to PalmAddicts for the tip.)

If you just can't get enough Ed Colligan, MSNBC.com has an interview with him talking about the California cell phone ban and cell phone etiquette in general. Colligan takes a jab at the Motorola Q too:

"I think you’ll also find [with] the Q enormous return rates, people that are disappointed with its usability. The only thing we can do is focus on what we do best, which is simple, fast, reliable products that people love to use. Treo users are a real dedicated bunch. If you talk to them, they will tell you why they would rather carry our products than those."

Yes we will, Ed, we'll tell them all day. :-)

Thanks to Jazzi for the tip!