Jobs probably only wanted Palm so he could fire Rubenstein.
And realized that after HP placed their bid, the deed was done.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Reportedly Placed Bid to Buy Palm, Was Outbid by HP
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
And realized that after HP placed their bid, the deed was done.
what? There is extremely little reason to buy Palm is not going to use/leverage WebOS and the associated IP.
What was primarily holding back the Pre phones was the hardware not the software. WebOS needs some work but so do all of the mobile OS's.
Palm owned no other operating system. So if need complete refresh of hardware and going to also dump the OS .... what exactly paying to get ? The IP by itself is no where near worth that high. The price paid was only if going to do product systems/products going forward. Buying Palm to do a Android slate/phone??? ... please. A Windows one ??? ... again please.
No not really. When there is high overlap it is actually harder to get synergies out of the acquisition. That means you generally can't pay as much. Since Palm had overlapping products you either have to go with strategy of selling both ( which will drive down margins) or phasing one out ( typically pissing off a significant number of customers if not done well ). With effectively zero overlap HP doesn't really have that problem. [ All HP had was a even more problematical tablet that had to get nuked. It was in a whacked state before they bought Palm. ]
HP generally lives off of lower margins ( putting aside the money printing printer inks business). They are already in the "we have one of everything with one stop shopping" business already.
Buying a company is a match. The utility of buying one will vary from one buyer to another, that doesn't really say anything definative about the company being bought.
Buying Palm would have been hard for RIM. They would have to come up with some plan on how to merge the two lines. Both soft teams were goign to twitch into highly defensive mode so lots of internal drama if not handled right. Palm has tons of folks in Silicon Valley whereas RIM is centered in Canada.
Relaunching PalmOS is going to burn even more cash. HP is diversified enough so that if the relaunch bombs, it isn't going to take out the company. For RIM it probably would do significant damage.
Apple and Google really didn't want the product... just the IP and talent. That really wasn't for sale as long as there were a couple of folks who wanted to buy the whole thing.
Apple trying to buy Palm for a physical keyboard? Ha, I'd doubt it. That's why they introduced a virtual keyboard! You know, a keyboard that only pops up when you need it. Now that was brilliant engineering! So I think the closest thing to an iPhone keyboard would probably an add on accessorie in the near future. Who knows?
HP, I've never like HP. They have nice computers. But the build quality is horrible. Seriously. I've seen atleast 6 people with bad issues and build quality with their laptops. And those laptops, in my experience, were HP branded. And they hardly change anything up with the computers. Just the design itself. Any computer company could simply do that. But I gotta say, their desktops are pretty good themselves. Just not the mobile computers. Now I just fear of HP failing in the mobile/cellular world if they ever introduce a product.
And Google. Ah, Google Inc. What morons. Seriously. I respect their products, admire what they've accomplished, but really, they're too sprung on Apple. And it's not the first time that a lot of people have noticed that either. It's been quite a while since they've, baisically & obviously, want to be just like Apple. Like software wise & everyday life wise. And in my opinion, they're really getting annoying.
Well, this article is a rumor. So who knows if this is true or false. But these are just my thoughts. Enjoy
HP, I've never like HP. They have nice computers. But the build quality is horrible. Seriously. I've seen atleast 6 people with bad issues and build quality with their laptops. And those laptops, in my experience, were HP branded. And they hardly change anything up with the computers. Just the design itself. Any computer company could simply do that. But I gotta say, their desktops are pretty good themselves. Just not the mobile computers. Now I just fear of HP failing in the mobile/cellular world if they ever introduce a product.
And Google. Ah, Google Inc. What morons. Seriously. I respect their products, admire what they've accomplished, but really, they're too sprung on Apple. And it's not the first time that a lot of people have noticed that either. It's been quite a while since they've, baisically & obviously, want to be just like Apple. Like software wise & everyday life wise. And in my opinion, they're really getting annoying.
Well, this article is a rumor. So who knows if this is true or false. But these are just my thoughts. Enjoy
Research in Motion is way more problematic for apple, they make nothing, just do patent trolling. At least Google and HTC make something, which means there can be mutual respect for patents attacks, but imagine a very very small company that makes nothing, but sues non stop.
Perfect example of No RESEARCH In Motion.
Fan wanted something negative to say and has no idea WTF he/she is talking about.
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.2; en-gb; Nexus One Build/FRF91) AppleWebKit/533.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/533.1)
Rofl @ google.
Apple should generate fake interest in lots of companies to lead Google astray on a spending spree!
Rofl @ google.
Apple should generate fake interest in lots of companies to lead Google astray on a spending spree!
It would've been interesting to see what Apple could have done with Palm if they had bought them.
I'm still using my old Treo 650 which has a nice little nub antenna on top. It gets great reception and the aesthetics of it have never bothered me. I have over 800 contacts stored in my Palm, accumulated over the 8-10 years I've been using Palm's products; and calendar items which date back to early 2002. Now THAT'S product reliability. Of course my Palm databases have always been backed up by a reliable Apple computer (Powerbook G3, iMac G3, G4 Mac Mini).
Looks are great, but quality and longevity are VERY important to me as well.
Agreed. You would think this was a rumour site or something the way these stories are going!
They could have but Palm getting picked up by Apple would have been a shotgun wedding.
Also, this whole Palm buyout let Apple know they one of the are one the big dogs in the valley but not the biggest.
Palm going to HP is a very good move. HP will probably get rid of their third party embedded OS licenses for their printers / scanner and also unload Windows Mobile.
I'm for sure looking forward to HP smartphones running webOS competing with Blackberry, Android and iPhone. The "HP Way" is alive and well!
Funny that Google only wanted Palm if Apple wanted it.
Yes and same for HP. They don't even know what to do with Palm now that they've aquired it. Sheesh.
Well, you're wrong on nearly all counts.
If they had brains they would have realised they lack the infrastructure and the marketing base to exploit Palm, and not wasted their money. However, I suspect the purchase had a lot to do with the conversations they were having with Microsoft at the time.
They clearly don't have enough going on in this area otherwise they wouldn't have deemed it necessary to buy Palm.
You're right, they don't have enough money to devote to this long term. So why the gamble? It's a dumb move they can't gain from. No-one, and I mean NO-ONE should ever listen to Ballmer. But they did...
It will only be a matter of time. But don't bet on a quick smart decision to follow a dumb investment. All gamblers behave like gamblers for a reason: they're gamblers.
Your last prediction has already happened. Palm's products are already dead, and some of their talent have already gone to both Google and Apple. Developers go where the money is, not where, or when, armchair pundits imagine they will go.
There's currently a sickness in the tech and online industry. Ask, Yahoo, Palm, all netbook manufacturers, many PC manufacturers, and the old goat Microshaft are all in various stages of demise.
Microsoft's rescuing of Yahoo was like watching two drowning men grabbing at each other. Microsoft/HP's rescue of Palm [a company that, but for some awful decisions, could have been great], was something similar.
Just behind this cabal are two tears of dross, followed by some currently big names that won't survive long term. Among these are RIM, Dell, Facebook and the tech side of Amazon.
First 3Com now Palm,
How many websites of companies do HP have to ruin?
Its like HP's web designers live in a cave.
How many websites of companies do HP have to ruin?
Its like HP's web designers live in a cave.
Anyone remember BeOS?
I was briefly something of a BeOS enthusiast back in the mid-90s -- Another potentially great company started by an ex-Apple (beside NeXT) that didn't quite make it. I've always wondered what became of all of Be's intellectual property when Palm bought it up...
I was briefly something of a BeOS enthusiast back in the mid-90s -- Another potentially great company started by an ex-Apple (beside NeXT) that didn't quite make it. I've always wondered what became of all of Be's intellectual property when Palm bought it up...
Apple should buy HP. They have some interesting Unix OS's, enterprise products and they already manufacture hardware long with storage systems not to mention the given (Palm).
First 3Com now Palm,
How many websites of companies do HP have to ruin?
Its like HP's web designers live in a cave.
N***a, you crazy!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ae9qmbnMj4
HP knows exactly what they're doing with Palm, and they're being very open about those plans.
Sorry for the basic question, but I'm curious: what is so great about the "notifications" feature in WebOS that everyone keeps mentioning?
P.S. I liked the Pre, and if it weren't for the horrible battery life and lack of "n" level wireless, I might get one now!
P.S. I liked the Pre, and if it weren't for the horrible battery life and lack of "n" level wireless, I might get one now!
Sorry for the basic question, but I'm curious: what is so great about the "notifications" feature in WebOS that everyone keeps mentioning?
P.S. I liked the Pre, and if it weren't for the horrible battery life and lack of "n" level wireless, I might get one now!
They're non-obtrusive. The way a notification pops up, it either just triggers a small icon near the gesture area (and allows you to choose to open it fully) or it would take up about 1/8 of the screen from the bottom. If you wanted to open it, just press it. If not, swipe right to left ant it disappears.
I'm one of the rare people who had never used an iOS device before buying a Pre. The difference in the notification systems (and multitasking) is night and day, although iOS 4 has addressed multitasking (obviously). If I could leverage WebOS onto an iPhone and use the App Store, I'd have the perfect device.