Cue the Batman “oooffff” and “Bam!” Palm issued a statement yesterday attempting to set analyst expectations on the company’s performance or lack thereof. In releasing their preliminary Q3 results, Palm shed light on the bad news but also some good news.

The bad news, was pretty ugly. Instead of turning in the $155 million in sales that the street expected, Palm put up a limp $85 to $90 million. Times are tough, the Palm Treo Pro has had issues getting to market and the company hopes slack demand is sign of pent-up demand for the Pre. Normally, I’d jump on companies for blaming their losses on pent-up demand, but in the case of the Pre, I’d bet there are a lot of the loyal Palm army holding off on replacements for the Pre.

This loss shows Palm burned through most of the money recently raised, about $100 million. CEO Ed Colligan says expenses in developing the Pre and the webOS are putting a strain on company resources, but he sees a path forward in a successful Pre launch. An awful lot is riding on this phone.

Love, Gadgetell is a series of open letters sent to industry executives, where the Editors of Gadgetell offer friendly advice to the leaders of the companies we love the most. If you have any ideas for future letters, send them to tips at gadgetell.com

Dear Ed,

Well, looks like you pulled it off at CES with the announcement of the Palm Pre and webOS. But let’s not count it as a victory quite yet. You’ve got a lot more work to do to make this happen. The Pre and webOS look fantastic, but looks aren’t everything. Let’s review the most important things for you and your team to focus on leading up to the launch of the Pre.

Sad news for Palm Treo and Windows Mobile fans: Palm CEO Ed Colligan recently announced a $31.5 million net loss for Palm and said that “new Windows Mobile Treos” are “not coming out this quarter,” then follows it up with saying the new Windows Mobile Treo smart phone should be available by the end of more »