Facts And Rumors On Palm

[Ed Hansberry]

<p>Yesterday we found out that the CEO of Palm, Ed Colligan, is <a href="http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=15318&amp;news=Palm+Jon+Rubinstein+Ed+Colligan" target="_blank">leaving the company</a> after being there for 16 years. Executive Chairman John Rubinstein will take the reigns as the CEO tomorrow, June 12.</p><p>The Wall Street Journal is reporting that <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124466926594003593.html#articleTabs=comments" target="_blank">Dell is warming up their acquisition engine</a> again and there is a lot of speculation that the big company talked about is Palm. From Dell's perspective, it makes sense. They got in the PDA market and did well until smartphones started taking over and PDA's were on the way out. They have been working internally on their own phone, but acquiring Palm makes a ton of sense. Palm the design team, knowledge and carrier relationships.</p><p>What do you think?</p>

[doogald]

Honestly, I wonder if Palm would be more interested in an investment by Dell in their business rather than a purchase? It would be much like the investment that Microsoft made in Apple back in 1997 when Apple bought Next and brought in Steve Jobs as interim CEO. It could be very lucrative for Dell, if Palm's business explodes, and leaves Palm small and flexible to continue to try to innovate in that very specific wireless device market, and of course gives Palm some cash to get through the year and perhaps some added business with a Dell partnership.

Rubinstein came to Apple after the Next sale and probably remembers how helpful the Microsoft investment in Apple turned out to be, so may be more inclined to run his own operation lean without losing too much operational control.

[Jason Dunn]

I think Dell purchasing Palm makes a lot of sense, though I don't know what would happen to the corporate culture at Palm - Dell isn't exactly know for their innovation, though that's been slowly changing lately. Palm is onto a good thing with the Pre, so from their point of view they might not want to be sold...

[The Yaz]

It would be an interesting match. Dell is already selling the Treo Pro, and increasing the partnership might bring about one of my favorite memories from the Axim days; customization of your tech purchase.

Image changing the pipeline to ordering what features are added to the phone:

Your changes to the Pre are:
16GB internal, you got it!
GSM antenna instead of CDMA, here you go!
2300Mhz Battery instead of 1150? Done!

Total price... $749 w/ 2yr contract

(Sighs as my wife would look at me like I've lost my mind once again :( )

Steve

[Stinger]

I can't see Palm or Palm's investors' buying into this.

If it does go through, it will surely indicate that Palm was completely out of cash. There's indication that they are running low on cash, given the relatively modest production run and advertising for the Pre.