04-28-2010, 10:13 PM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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HP Buys Palm for $1.2 Billion. Yes, Seriously.
"HP and Palm, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which HP will purchase Palm, a provider of smartphones powered by the Palm webOS mobile operating system, at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash or an enterprise value of approximately $1.2 billion. The transaction has been approved by the HP and Palm boards of directors." 
Of all the companies I was thinking about buying Palm, HP wasn't very high on the list - but now that I think about it, it makes quite a bit of sense. Palm has a lot of expertise in mobile devices, and by all accounts, their new generation of WebOS devices are pretty good. HP on the other hand has deep pockets and really struggled in the mobile space since PDAs became phones; they're never managed to have a very successful mobile device. They need people will skills and vision in the mobile phone space, something they've lacked for many years now. I wonder what this means for Windows phone 7? HP was a launch partner, and I was expecting them to release a Windows phone 7 device...I kind of doubt that will happen now. So, what are your thoughts on this? Engadget has a liveblog of the conference call as well.
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04-28-2010, 11:15 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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I hate to be a skeptic, but I personally think HP will drive this into the ground even faster, as they did to their Jornada and Compaq's iPaq (n�e iPAQ) lines.
--janak
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04-28-2010, 11:48 PM
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Ponderer
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 50
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>Jason Dunn
>Executive Editor
>Absolutely - it's not too late for HP to become relevant. The question though, is do they want to be?
I did some checking around the internet. Palm has a long list of carrier relationships and that�s a large part of the reason for the sale. HP is getting serious about mobile phones.
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04-29-2010, 12:14 AM
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Thoughts Media Review Team
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 749
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I suspect Jason's right, that HP wanted to 'buy' knowledge and experience in the phone space, plus maybe some carrier contacts.
I think the WebOS is dead in the water. It's been superceded by the iPhone and even HTC's Sense overlay. HP will use the contacts and knowledge to rebuild their existing iPaq line into something smarter, more 'hep' and probably with the WP7 O/S on it.
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/drt
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04-29-2010, 12:23 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 639
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First, I'm giddy happy about this because webOS is truly awesome and I'm REALLY glad it isn't going to die. It just needs some marketing and some better hardware. Now...
...here's my take on the actual deal. First, I think that HP sees everyone except RIM completely abandoning the enterprise market. WP7, iPhone, Android...all consumer-focused. HP is in just about every enterprise in the world. HP says, hmm, there might be some synergy there if we beef up the platform's enterprise features a bit and take over the #2 enterprise OS behind BB (from WM, of course).
Second, they want to play in the tablet space, but again be able to focus on enterprises and healthcare. Having full control over an OS (to say, add digitizer support and handwriting recognition) to something that isn't NEARLY as heavy as Windows 7 is very appealing.
I think it is a really smart play for HP. Yeah, maybe they'll lose interest as they did with the iPaq, but I really don't think so. I see this as them finally deciding to be a player in the fully-integrated mobile market. I really think this is a major deal, and a really good thing for the market.
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04-29-2010, 01:35 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Jul 2005
Posts: 639
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Don Tolson
I think the WebOS is dead in the water. It's been superceded by the iPhone and even HTC's Sense overlay. HP will use the contacts and knowledge to rebuild their existing iPaq line into something smarter, more 'hep' and probably with the WP7 O/S on it.
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I don't normally attack here and I'd love to say "maybe you're right" even, but you are just wrong. Sorry. Wow. That's just plain nonsense.
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04-29-2010, 02:39 AM
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Theorist
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 279
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Hi! I haven't posted to these forums in close to seven years.
But... wow. Remember Palm vs. Pocket PC?
In 2000, iPaq + PPC vs Palm + PalmOS.
In 2005, Palm Treos started running WinMo.
In 2010, HP devices will start running Palm's WebOS.
We have now come full circle.
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iPAQ h3635 => Jornada 548 => Jornada 720 => Jornada 568 => iPAQ h1935 => iPAQ h1940 => Axim x50v
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04-29-2010, 04:00 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 1,202
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Janak Parekh
I hate to be a skeptic, but I personally think HP will drive this into the ground even faster, as they did to their Jornada and Compaq's iPaq (n�e iPAQ) lines.
--janak
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I was going to post something very similar, but you beat me to it!
HP took over the iPaq line and from Compaq and completely ignored it. Since then, we've seen only half-hearted attempts to get into the smart phone space. Having said this, Todd Bradley, who heads up the HP mobile group or whatever they call it, is the same Todd Bradley that used to run Palm. He may have some desire to try and rebuild the empire, and HP has the deep pockets to do so.
However if recent history is any indicator, those of you owning a Pre or Pixi can kiss hope of any future upgrades goodbye! HP has shown no inclination to upgrade any of it's recent mobile devices beyond the shipping OS and a few small bug fixes.
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04-29-2010, 01:51 PM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 524
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Very Cool!
I think this is great! I'm glad a company with some resources bought them. I think WebOS is excellent and could have done great with better marketing and a little more strength behind it. I think the competition will be a good thing.
I think it would be funny if in the end the iPhone and WinMobile/phone would die off because of their closed and restricted natures and WebOS and Android would be the only ones left standing.
Sure, it will take a while for the iPhone to go away. Microsoft on the other hand is going to have a really hard time finding more people, besides those who are already in love with their iPhones, willing to buy such a restricted and limited device. Many current WinMo users are so because it was not very limited or restricted and therefor are not even candidates for WinPhone.
I'm really glad WebOS will probably not die off now and I look forward to seeing more devices that use it and even newer versions of it!
Maybe WebOS Thoughts should be on your list along with Android Thoughts
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04-29-2010, 03:57 PM
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Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 555
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The problem with HP, IMHO, isn't the software part. It's the hardware. The Ipaq was only good when they were still contracting from HTC. After that relationship dissolved, their devices were rote and uninspired.
Palm's strength is not hardware either, although on that front they are decent. But only just.
I don't see how buying Palm will be a good fit to help with HP's weakness, as I see it anyways.
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