Our sister site PreCentral.net told us recently that Palm's preliminary Q3 FY09 results didn't look so good. Dieter also reported here that the results looked to be pretty grim.

Today Palm has posted their Q3 FY09 results, and the results are grim as expected. As Dieter mentioned, Palm is working hard on getting the Pre released. We still know that the Pre will come out in the first half of 2009, but nobody knows exactly when that's going to be. We did hear that the Original Device Manufacturer (ODM) is probably going to be Chi Mei Communication Systems (CMCS), and DigiTimes has reported [via Brighthand] that "shipments [are] expected to begin in March at the earliest." So hopefully, whenever the Pre does get released and the sales start happening, Palm will be able to bump up its numbers once again.

Total revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2009, was $90.6 million. Smartphone sell-through for the quarter was 482,000 units, down 42% year over year. Smartphone revenue was $77.5 million, down 72 percent from the year-ago period. **Ouch**!

From the press release:

"We're proceeding through a challenging transitional period, however our current results shouldn't overshadow the tremendous progress we've made against our strategic goals. We're poised to usher in a new era at Palm," said Ed Colligan, Palm president and chief executive officer.

I know that Palm is up against some big competitors in Apple (iPhone 3.0 looks nice), RIM, and now Google with its Android device, but I believe that the Palm Pre is going to move Palm forward in reaching their strategic goals. Most of the talk I've heard about the Pre is from gadget freaks like myself and those of you reading this article. Just wait until the rest of the smartphone consumers get wind of the Palm Pre. I know that many new folks got a nice look at the Pre on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon recently.

Palm was able to pick up $83.9 million in cash last week when they sold some of their common stock held by Elevation Parters. So this much-needed extra cash should help Palm too.

Hmmm, notice that the press release mentions that Palm's smartphone sell-through for the quarter was 482,000 units, down 42% year over year? This isn't the first time that Palm's smartphone sell-through has been down. It could possibly be the 2nd time though. I looked back through our previous articles on Palm's earnings reports and below are what I've found:

• Q1 FY07 569,000 Treo units, up 21% year over year
• Q2 FY07 617,000 smartphone sell-through untis, up 42% year over year
• Q3 FY07 738,000 smartphone sell-through units, up 30% year over year
• Q4 FY07 750,000 smartphone sell-through units, up 43% year over year
• Q1 FY08 689,000 smartphone sell-through units, up 21% year over year
• Q2 FY08 smartphone sell-through 686,000 units, up 11% year over year
• Q3 FY08 record high smartphone sell-through 833,000 units, up 13% year over year
• Q4 FY08 smartphone sell-through reached record high, totaling 968,000 units, up 29% year over year
• Q1 FY09 smartphone sell-through just over a million units, up nearly 50% year over year
• Q2 FY09 smartphone sell-through 599,000 units, down 13% year over year

So, in looking back through many articles, I see that the sell-through was down in Q2 FY09 and in today's report of Q3 FY09. I even looked back through Q2 FY06 and saw only increases in smartphone sell-through. Sad to see that the smartphone sell-through is down again this quarter, but it is impressive that Palm had so many "up" quarters. Let's cross our fingers that the release and sale of the Pre and other future webOS devices will increase the sell-through numbers again.

You can read Palm's full press release on their Q3 FY09 results here.

Dang, I just now read over at our sister site PreCentral.net that Palm lost $5 million in a warehouse robbery. The theft occurred at one of Palm's third party operated warehouses. Thank goodness the loss is covered by insurance!!

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