Treo sales boost PalmOne profits

The Treo is both a phone and a digital organiser

Strong sales of Treo 600 combination mobile and digital organisers have led to a surge in profits at PalmOne.

The firm reported fourth-quarter net income of $13m (£7m), which was more than twice analysts' estimates.

While sales of pocket digital organisers have dropped, consumers have warmed to Treo gadgets which can send and receive e-mail.

PalmOne is the hardware side of the former Palm Inc, which split itself into two last year.

While PalmOne creates and sells devices, the other half of the former Palm Inc, PalmSource, develops the operating systems.

Competition

Analysts said the bumper sales growth of its smartphones was a promising sign.

"Once they became more heavily weighted to the smartphone market, their growth had an opportunity to accelerate, because the handset market is such a green pasture," Jonathan Hoopes, an analyst at William Smith Company, told the Reuters news agency.

PalmOne has indicated that it is looking to capitalise on Sony Corp's decision to stop selling new hand-held devices outside of Japan.

But it is set to face competition from rivals such as Research In Motion's BlackBerry e-mail machine and mobile handset makers such as Nokia.