Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Palm Halts Treo Shipments to Europe

Sunnyvale, CA -- Palm admitted last week that it has stopped shipping its Treo 650 phone to Europe because the devices do not comply with the EU’s RoHS restrictions that fell into place on July 1. This was the only Palm smart phone available in Europe.

The company decided nine months ago that it would not update the product to meet the regulations, according to an IDC report published in Macworld.

“We felt like the product was long in its lifecycle and to make that change at this point did not make sense,” said Ed Colligan, Palm’s president and CEO.

Palm said it has already sent enough of the devices to meet demand until it can start shipping a successor for the smartphone that is RoHS-compliant sometime this fall.

IDC noted that the shipments are being stopped just as the Treo 650 is picking up momentum after promotions from Orange PLC and O2 PLC.

Palm recently decided to make two new products, the 700w and the 700p, available only in North America.