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gletob
April 28th, 2010, 10:35 PM
PALO ALTO, Calif. & SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HP (NYSE: HPQ - News) and Palm, Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM - News) 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 industry-leading mobile experiences to our customers and business partners."

Under the terms of the merger agreement, Palm stockholders will receive $5.70 in cash for each share of Palm common stock that they hold at the closing of the merger. The merger consideration takes into account the updated guidance and other financial information being released by Palm this afternoon. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including the receipt of domestic and foreign regulatory approvals and the approval of Palm's stockholders. The transaction is expected to close during HP's third fiscal quarter ending July 31, 2010.

Palm's current chairman and CEO, Jon Rubinstein, is expected to remain with the company.]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/hp-buys-palm/

What do you think about this?

MCVenom
April 28th, 2010, 10:39 PM
Could be interesting, I can't wait to see what exactly they plan to do with WebOS.

KiwiNZ
April 28th, 2010, 10:45 PM
They will gobble it up , add it to their consumer range, cheapen it, and ultimately ruin it .

P4man
April 28th, 2010, 10:51 PM
Could be interesting, I can't wait to see what exactly they plan to do with WebOS.

not much good I fear: seems like everything HP buys goes to hell.
/me remembers when compaq was, well, still compaq. Good PCs, alpha servers, ipaq,
/me remembers VoodooPC, ....
/me once worked for EDS.

wouldnt hold my breath for HP turning palm into a success story. I bet they will just slap the name on crappy MS phone 7 products.

MCVenom
April 28th, 2010, 11:08 PM
They will gobble it up , add it to their consumer range, cheapen it, and ultimately ruin it .


not much good I fear: seems like everything HP buys goes to hell.
/me remembers when compaq was, well, still compaq. Good PCs, alpha servers, ipaq,
/me remembers VoodooPC, ....
/me once worked for EDS.

wouldnt hold my breath for HP turning palm into a success story. I bet they will just slap the name on crappy MS phone 7 products.

Not gonna lie, one less mobile OS sounds good right about now. :lolflag:

So that leaves Android (<3), iPhone (meh, it was innovative in the beginning!), Blackberry (the enterprise phones!), MeeGo (more like a conventional Linux, the only mobile OS I would consider leaving Android for at this point, (hope it will accommodate multiple dev languages, don't like Java [-()), and Windows Phone 7 (just meh)! :p

LMP900
April 28th, 2010, 11:13 PM
They will gobble it up , add it to their consumer range, cheapen it, and ultimately ruin it .

I hope not. The webOS team seems like a brilliant bunch but Palm couldn't provide the resources to give them a shot at the big guys. I hope HP provides the support while allowing a high degree of autonomy.

Madspyman
April 28th, 2010, 11:59 PM
I'm not surprised HP has the Slate coming out soon to combat the iFail. Apple will think twice now if they were planning to sue for patent infringement, because HP's got some pretty hefty patents to backing them up. I doubt they'd sue HP even if, but I figured I'd mention it.

Giant Speck
April 29th, 2010, 12:04 AM
I know Palm hasn't been doing too well lately, but I'm surprised that they're being bought out by HP. This is certainly interesting news.

murderslastcrow
April 29th, 2010, 12:33 AM
Yeah, they'll probably just cannibalize what's good about Palm and add it to their products somehow.

Cam42
April 29th, 2010, 12:40 AM
They're keeping Jon Rubenstein in charge of Palm, and keeping most of the employees. I don't think the damage to WebOS will be much.

jrusso2
April 29th, 2010, 05:23 AM
HP might be a good place for WebOS to grow. I mean they do support Linux and they have money.

Firestem4
April 29th, 2010, 06:03 AM
I was certainly not expecting HP to buy out Palm. Interesting development. Will wait to see how it goes.