Lenovo a Likely Buyer for Palm

According to unconfirmed reports, HTC is not interested in acquiring Palm, but Lenovo might still put in an offer. Palm's CEO, however, said he still believed the company can go it alone.

The first reports that Palm might be looking for a buyer came out last week, and at that time, the two top possibilities were HTC and Lenovo. HTC has supposedly dropped out, leaving Lenovo the top prospective buyer.

Lenovo is supposedly interested in getting into the U.S. smartphone market, and has more than $2 billion in cash.

Palm is looking for solutions in the face of weak demand for its latest generation of smartphones running the webOS.

Not a Done Deal
While Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein admits that a buyout by a larger company is possible, he said it's required "I believe Palm can survive as an independent company," he told the Financial Times. "We have a plan that gets us to profitability."

He didn't go into details on that plan, but added that Palm is open to the idea of licensing the webOS to other smartphone makers.

Source: Reuters, FT.com