Palm have produced some rather nice Windows Mobile handsets over the years. We particularly liked the Palm Treo 750v. Now they’re under new ownership after HP announced the purchase of the company for a cool $1.2 billion. HTC were previously rumoured to be looking at buying Palm but last week declared that it was a no-go.
Todd Bradley, Executive Vice President at HP stated..
“Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices. Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share.”
Palm CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is to stay with the company. Considering the slightly slow sales of the Pre, this seems like a high price to pay, but we’re guessing that yet again it’s the patents that are worth the money. It’ll be interesting to see if HP remain committed to Windows Phone – they were announced as a launch partner for Windows Phone 7.
Link – HP Press Release
Credit – Tom Gleeson
Combination will accelerate HP’s growth within the more than $100 billion connected mobile device market
PALO ALTO and SUNNYVALE, Calif., April 28, 2010
HP and Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) 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.
The combination of HP’s global scale and financial strength with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm’s unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.
“Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team. The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share. Advances in mobility are offering significant opportunities, and HP intends to be a leader in this market.”
“We’re thrilled by HP’s vote of confidence in Palm’s technological leadership, which delivered Palm webOS and iconic products such as the Palm Pre. HP’s longstanding culture of innovation, scale and global operating resources make it the perfect partner to rapidly accelerate the growth of webOS,” said Jon Rubinstein, chairman and chief executive officer, Palm. ”We look forward to working with HP to continue to deliver