Palm (NSDQ: PALM) reported preliminary financial results for its second quarter ended Nov. 28 today, saying its revenues fell compared to the previous quarter and that it is trimming staff and consolidating offices in order to save up to $20 million a quarter. The company, which is well-known for its Treo smartphones, expects Q2 revenues in the range of $190 million to $195 million. That is significantly less than the $366.9 million reported in the first quarter, and falls way below analyst expectations of $330.8 million. The company blames falling revenues on the maturing smartphone market and the difficult economy. Ed Colligan, Palm’s president and CEO said: “We are seeing unprecedented dynamics in the global markets as economic uncertainty hampers demand for consumer products.”

But truly, Palm is also in the middle of a transformation as it works to launch new phones and operating systems in the next year. To weather the storm, it is implementing several cost-savings initiatives, including reducing its U.S. work force (which we reported a couple of weeks ago), consolidating its European operations, and shifting responsibility for Asia Pacific sales, marketing and administrative support to its U.S. offices. Restructuring charges of up to $9 million will be recorded in the second quarter, and the company expects that by the fourth quarter, these actions will reduce quarterly operating expenses by about $20 million. Release.