December 7 - 12:00am EST   Palm on Thursday announced its preliminary second quarter financial results for the 2008 fiscal year, which ended November 30th, falling short of previous forecasts based in part on a failed "mystery" product launch. Palm expects earnings to sit between $345 to $350 million, close to $30 million short of its October 1st projections for the first quarter. Palm expects gross margin to be within 29.3- to 29.8-percent on a GAAP basis. The gross margin reflects an as-of-yet unforeseen increase in warranty repairs over the course of the quarter, partly due to higher-than-expected shipments of Palm's new Centro smartphone, and a delay in product shipment. [full story]