Robbie Stephens Conference: Who's the Best? Palm. Just Ask Its CEO

Can I get a ticker tape parade?

In a season of losers, Palm (PALM) CEO Carl Yankowski carries himself like a winner. Bragging about the company's year, Yankowski rifles through a 2000 in which he waved goodbye to 3Com (COMS), went public, doubled his employee base, saw Palm join the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, sent his revenue run rate over $2 billion (with positive cash flow) and maintained the No.1 spot for handheld market share, before and after Palm began licensing its operating system to handheld competition. Not only did David Letterman feature a Palm parody in 2000, but also Jay Leno recently flashed a picture of Yankowski and joked about the general public's growing relationship with their Palms.

See you around, suckers!

Cheerleading Yankowski knows you're worried about his competition, and he's got a bead on them. Palm will introduce an instant-messaging and email capable Palm in the year's second half to compete with the Research in Motion (RIMM) Blackberry pager. He's working on flashing lights and vibrating notification. And if you're worried that Handspring (HAND), Sony (SNE) and other companies using the Palm operating system will overtake Palm, Yankowski assures you that his growth from the fiscal first to second quarters (from $258.6 million to $522.2 million) was bigger than his handheld competition's total quarterly revenues.

Is cockiness a virtue?

Not that all is rosy for Palm. Yankowski took a few potshots, insisting the company spent 2000 trying to overcome stunted growth at the hands of 3Com (COMS). "3Com didn't do any significant investment in our business," Yankowski said of the last months of the spin-off's relationship with its parent. Once it was public, Palm's business was stifled at the next turn by manufacturing conditions. "I hate component shortages!" Yankowski bellowed to the crowd. He did express hope that the shortage would ease by the end of this month or next.

Oh, and there's one more thing that isn't to Yankowski's liking. "We reported outstanding revenue," he said in a demanding tone. "And our stock went down anyway."

See if you can work on that.

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