Palm Is Now Part of HP

HP has officially completed its acquisition of Palm, Inc. As a division of the world's largest computer maker, Palm will continue to make smartphones running the webOS, as well as other devices using this consumer-oriented operating system.

This deal was first announced in April, but today is the first day that Palm has been a business unit of HP.

Not surprisingly, HP executives are very positive about this move. Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP, said

"With webOS, HP will deliver its customers a unique and compelling experience across smartphones and other mobility products. This allows us the opportunity to fully engage in growing our smartphone family offering and the footprint of webOS."

Aside from comments about making smartphones and tablets running the webOS, HP hasn't revealed any specific plans for new devices.

Details of the Acquisition
Formerly, Jon Rubinstein was Palm's chairman and CEO. As of today, he is the head of the Palm global business unit, and will report to Bradley.

HP paid $5.70 per share of common stock in cash for Palm.

A Long and Winding Road
In the beginning of the current decade, Palm and HP were bitter rivals in the PDA market. HP made the iPAQ line using Microsoft's Pocket PC operating system (later renamed Windows Mobile) and Palm made handhelds with its own Palm OS.

As the years went by and the market shifted to smartphones, both companies struggled to make the transition. Palm has been a bit more successful in this area, as its webOS has received much praise from reviewers, while the handful of iPAQs released recently have garnered little or no attention.

But HP is buying Palm, and not the other way around, because HP has a very successful line of laptops and PCs, while Palm's device sales have been weak in the face of tough competition from Google's Android OS and the Apple iPhone.

"With HP’s full backing and global strengths, I’m confident that webOS will be able to reach its full potential,” said Rubinstein.

The man who heads up HP's smartphone division is already very familiar with Palm; Todd Bradley was the CEO before moving to HP in 2005.

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