A Smart Phone Partnership? Palm And HP

Palm may have been the grandfather of PDAs and smartphones, but they have not been doing well. Therefore, the Palm HP partnership couldn’t have come at a better time. This $ 1.2 billion payday loans no faxpurchase of Palm, HP is acquiring the Palm operating system, intellectual property, and phone handset designs.

HP purchase saves faltering Palm

The HP Palm purchase could not have come at a better time for Palm. Palm has been struggling, besides great reviews for its new operating system. The technology behind Palm intelligent phones has been well-reviewed, but a combination of slow sales and frustrating design have meant that Palm’s revenues are falling to dangerous levels. Low order volumes and slow sales were outlined in the latest SEC filing from Palm.

Plans for Palm

The HP Palm purchase has confused some Wall Street stock investors. Seems like a little odd that a company would pay $ 5 a stock for a company that was trading at $ 1 two years ago. However, Hewlett Packard has plans for the Palm operating system. In the HP Palm purchase announcement, HP outlines its strategy as “creating a mobile ecosystem” that “leverages HP’s channel and enterprise connections”. Translation – HP may be distancing itself from being a Windows-only manufacturer and entering the phone, tablet, and mobile markets.

Will Palm OS run the HP Slate?

Hewlett Packard has been a “strategic partner” with Microsoft for a long time — but the HP Palm partnership might distance this relationship. The HP Streak 3 or 5 might require a more lightweight operating system than what Windows 7 can offer. The HP Streak is rumored to be released as a smartphone, slate computer, and a lot more – so the polished Palm OS would be the perfect match. The release from regulations and delays that using Windows causes would be another benefit of HP using Palm OS. It might be a very powerful partnership that has a chance to challenge Apple’s dominance.

HP Palm to merge in July

There are still regulatory hurdles for HP Palm to jump over. Both boards of directors have approved the purchase. At the same time, stockholders and regulatory agencies nevertheless need to approve the merger. Around the end of the 3rd quarter, in July, HP will merge with Palm if it is approved.

Sources for the article

HP Press Release

Palm SEC filings

ZD Net