HP Buys Palm, Will Continue to Support WebOS
HP Buys Palm, Will Continue to Support WebOS
Posted 04/28/2010 at 2:58pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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It was only a few weeks ago that Palm was spiraling downward and was put up for sale. Several possible suitors were rumored, including HTC, Lenovo, and Huawei, but none of them made a move. Now technology heavyweight HP has announced they will be acquiring Palm for $1.2 billion. This works out to a respectable $5.70 per share of common stock. HP hopes to close the deal by July 31 of this year.
In a press call to discuss the deal HP was very straightforward in their plans to continue on with WebOS. saying they would be " doubling down on WebOS". This is a relief to many Palm fans who worried the smartphone maker could be acquired for intellectual property and dismantled. HP also talked about plans to scale WebOS to a number of larger devices. Tablets anyone?
Palm's existing hardware roadmap is not currently being altered, but HP's scale an deep pockets should make for some interesting new paths. Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein is expected to remain on as well. Do you think this is a good buy for HP? Anyone still planning on getting that HP Slate, or will you wait for the WebOS version?
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JohnP
April 30, 2010 at 6:41pm
is to be bought out by HP. That company just evaporates! Ever heard of Apollo? Where is Compac these days? The list goes on. Grab the engineeers, sell the property and do it the "HP Way". Bye-bye Palm...
i7_DOMINATION
April 29, 2010 at 3:06pm
Hewlett-Packard is a terrible company that builds shitty products and doesn't stand behind them. Palm is screwed..
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FIX THE GODDAMN FILTER!! IT'S WORSE THAN FUCKING OUTLOOK.
darkproteus66
April 29, 2010 at 6:52am
Palm has the best mobile platform with webOS hands down, it's main problem has been getting people to switch over to it. Bad marketing and a tiny budget didn't help them at all with that. Hopefully HP is smart enough to throw money at the issues that need to be addressed and not try to change the company as a whole. The way Palm bends over backwards for it's developers and the extra money from HP could work wonderfully if HP is smart about it.
rich5665
April 29, 2010 at 6:13am
The HP iPAQ line doesn't exactly stand out. HP could conceivably move there iPAQ line into Palm, there by expanding their product offering in the hand held market.
dracx619
April 28, 2010 at 4:41pm
this is very exciting. i really like the pre, im super curious about the evo and the new android 2.2 but having played with both mobile oses, i really dig webos more. maybe with some better handsets that hp can possibly provide, that sounds pretty good.
but imagine this, a nice flashy fully equipped hp tablet running win 7, but being able to dual boot with webos, or tripple boot with android. i can do all my creative hardcore stuff with win 7 and when i just wanna catch up on some stories, a little web video, or some fun apps, switch over to webos or android. imagine the possibilities for geeks like us!!
Peanut Fox
April 28, 2010 at 11:24pm
I don't really see a reason to boot into Web OS or Android if you can already run Win 7. Why run a knee capped mobile OS when you have the option to use something as full featured as Win 7. Apps fill the function of what programs do for a full featured OS, and if you have Win 7 and can run a program, there is little incintive to "switch" over to Web OS or Android to use apps which are usually watered down versions of programs found on Windows and Mac OSX.
Web OS would be a nice option, as you don't have to pay to have a full or starter version of Windows for something as simple as a tablet. I think it's great that Palm will still be around in some form, but I honestly don't think HP is the right company to pair with them.
dracx619
April 29, 2010 at 3:04am
i guess time will tell. aside from bein able to dual or triple boot just for the fun of it,im thinking of it in a sense of simplicity. maybe i dont want to wait as much for windows 7 to load to simply browse the web, check an email, or something quick, and webos is pretty straight forward (and im thinking about my wife and non tech friends and family too, webos would be more friendly for people like tham and it would be harder for them to muck things up, so the simpler the better).
so yeah, it may not be the best solution, but i think at least being given the option would be great. i mean, thats the reason we geeks are into windows and linux more than macs right? the ability to pick, choose, customize and such.
i definitely see and agree with your assesment, but at least now you know my reasoning behind it.
Peanut Fox
April 29, 2010 at 7:59am
Options are always nice and for those that aren't as tech savvy as others, being able to access something as straight forward as WebOS or Android is great.
As far as tablets go, HP would have the resources and the money to put together a piece of usable hardware capable of doing something like this and have it be good. On another note, I'm still super excited about Notion Inks Adam. Every time I see that thing, I can't wait to get my hands on it.
BasiliskSt
April 28, 2010 at 3:37pm
I didn't see this pairing coming, but it makes a certain amount of sense. The HP Slate running a full Win7 OS is both more capable than an iPad but less satisfying because of complexity. The WebOS would give HP a proprietary tool to compete with Apple in handhelds of all sizes and HP has a huge business tools side of the store where a WebOS device could be adapted to enterprise applications. The more I think about it, the more I like it.
TechJunkie
April 28, 2010 at 3:21pm
I have a palm pre and not sure if I like HP taking over. I mean, I have no beef with HP except thier PC's and printers are crap. Oh well, I'm moving to the HTC EVO 4G as soon as it's released by sprint anyways.
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