Palm’s Future Looks Brighter with HP Acquisition Progress
While it has already been confirmed more than a month ago, the acquisition of smart phone manufacturer Palm by Hewlett Packard is still underway. For the most part, the two companies are already considered as one. Technically, there are still papers to be signed and various other proceedings to be followed through.
In any event, the deal is already pushing through and despite the initial statement from HP that hinted at the possibility that they would not be delving into the smart phone industry, it seems that HP is now intent on ‘speeding up’ their entry to the market. In any case, it is hard to tell what the famous (yet fickle) company is planning on doing at this point.
Regardless of how Hewlett Packard decides to play this out, many industry believe that the acquisition of Palm can nothing but a great thing for HP. While Palm’s WebOS has made it well known in the phone industry, it has yet to make a name for itself with the average market. Even the older Palm PDAs and pocket PCs were catering to a very niche crowd, and their later venture into smart phones was little different.
HP on the other hand, caters to a larger market. These general use devices such as printers and laptops are used both by enterprise and general buyers. Being tied up to HP’s name and brand will help spread Palm to a larger market range –a feat that it failed to achieve before the acquisition.
At the same time, HP will have a new operating system and the entire library of patented technology that Palm has developed throughout the years. For now, existing Palm owners will be happy to know that the WebOS mobile platform, as well as the Palm smart phones will continue to be supported and developed for by HP.
