Report: Palm is actively hunting for a buyer

By on Apr 12, 2010 at 6:23 AM
News April 12, 2010

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Despite putting on its bravest face, it seems Palm has finally resigned itself to reality. According to a report filed by Bloomberg, the struggling company headed by Jon Rubinstein has directed Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners to find it a buyer as early as this week. Potential suitors are said to include HTC and Lenovo. Dell, which recently had its name lumped in the the previous two companies as showing an interest in acquiring the Sunnyvale-based company, has apparently declined to enter a bid. At the moment there is nothing more to report other than all companies involved have declined to comment, but this is definitely a story we’ll be keeping our eyes on.

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  • StevenGlansburg

    I love how everyone is conjuring up different ways to take down Apple. At least you are all finally admitting Google and Palm don’t have what it takes on their own merit.

    • rg

      No one here is plotting Apple’s demise. If anything, we’re commenting on the patent lawsuit, nothing more. Clearly Apple is a winner, no one can deny that, like ‘em or not. Obviously Google and Palm cannot “take down” Apple. They’re software companies. Apple designs their own hardware customized for their own software – complete design package. Neither of the aforementioned companies have that, so yea, they need help. Quit being so holier-than-thou.

      • StevenGlansburg

        :( sorry, I hope you can recover

    • benr

      Putting a firewall in front of ones self to prevent attacks is not intended to take down the Internet, so HTC buying Palm is much the same thing .. just putting up a firewall against Apple’s boot on the neck. ;)

  • Percy

    RIM should toss there name in too!

    • gquaglia

      They should, but they won’t. They think their product is fine the way it is. They will be the next company we read about going under.

      • Barack Obama.

        Actually most corporations think they’re product is fine the way it is… you know why because there product is… Not just blackberry but the software that comes with it.

  • big red elephant

    apple and google are market share leaders, apple 75%, and google android is at about 19% and every one else is the rest.

    i personally think web os is alot less clunky than apples os,, why you ask,,, all the home button work,,

    navigation is knda clunky,, as apple displays one screen at a time,, hense one closes anoher one opens,,, even with the new 4.0 software,,,

    web os, minimizes in card view and this makes for easy app switching,, and they did this before android and apple,,,

  • gquaglia

    Let this be a lesson to any company out there that thinks their product is superior and refuses to change. Then when they do and delivered a excellent product, they failed anyway.
    RIM are you listening to this. This is YOUR FUTURE being played out here. I know you think you are top dog and you product is so wonderful that you don’t have to change anything while the rest of the industry is moving light years ahead. Go ahead, release new hardware every 3 months, that all looks the same and has the same old tired OS that is basically the same one you had 3 years ago. Continue on your present course and we will be reading about your demise in a few years.

    • Cnote221

      Well written, I must say Im a first time BB user and I am in love with it. I should have got one a long time ago. But knowing others don’t feel that way, you make a damn good point.

      IMO, RIM somewhat s only in danger for the fact there crossing into the consumer space. I’ve played with Android devices, I work closely to the iphones doing tech support. and of the 3 Major platforms BB is the most capable to me.

      But it s PUBLIC PERCEPTION of consumers not realizing the capability of a blackberry or not really wanting what it offers. That is bringing down RIM. Its the glitz & glam of new OS’s that are the craze right now… just my 2cents

    • Alf

      This is also Nokia´s present situation. They were great once, then they fired everybody, and now they are not on the scene any more….pity…

  • HunterA3

    The problem with Palm was their stoic stance on form factors. Most people couldn’t use the keyboard if they needed it to save their lives. Then couple that with a lack of new models like the other manufacturers, there was less drive to buy a new phone when it arrived by customers.
    And with less people using it, the harder it was to get WebOS off the ground. It’s an awesome OS, but they were building it on their own and taking on the likes of iPhone OS and Android that had a monumental head start with tons more developers cranking things out all the time. If Palm was on more solid ground financially, I’d say they could have pulled it off, but they were already taking on water and trying to navigate through a tsunami of smartphone makers making bigger waves.

  • no one

    not the end of palm…i bet HTC already bought palm. and is producing webos2, wimax…just watch..webos. has just begun…

  • apple..

    i know htc and palm have something up-their sleeve..that will demise apple 4.o….there will always be someone different at the top..apple cant last long..out dated os..and same crap-phones…just like RIM…

    • gquaglia

      Apple has been pronounced dead more times then Abe Vigoda. They aren’t going anywhere.

  • FrankieFlo

    U know Jobs could be a total douche and just buy palm…last I read they had a fat amount of cash and were itching to pull the trigger on a deal….for HTCs case hope this dosent happen but I hope this stupid ass case gets thrown out like last weeks newspaper

    • gquaglia

      Why would HTC buy them? HTC is a hardware company and Palm’s hardware sucks. Do they want to take over development of WebOS, why? They have Android and up coming WM 7. Why take on the hassel of OS development.

      • Outsider

        HTC would be smart to buy them for their patents. They would of course stop developing WebOS.

  • Tdot34

    I called this one a few months back and got a bunch of thumbs down.

    • skyy_flyer

      And look at that, you still get a bunch of thumbs down… It’s kind of like a politician who didn’t speak up saying “I knew that my opponenet was making a bad decision” AFTER the decision fails, but than saying “I knew that was a brilliant decision” on his opponents measure that had great results AFTER the fact.

  • Mrwirez

    I am torn with HTC buying Palm.. I like HTC concentrating on Android phones. If they buy Palm they will most certainly concentrate on Web-OS instead of Android.

    I think RIM will need a face lift sooner rather than later. Blackberries are boring… imo.

  • 50 Cent

    RIM will not buy into Palm as they are already developing OS6 by the end of the year alog with their web kit browser, it will be an amazing product line for BlackBerry. But enough about them, BB bore me! Give me that EVO!

    • gquaglia

      OS5 will be OS6 with a different theme. Don’t expect much of anything new from RIM.

      • Barack Obama.

        Other than the fact that its going to have a webkit browser.. (better than safari)… Flash (better than html5 but it will have that too)… the same blackberry email set up that has kicked ass and got it to where it is… and the SDK is going to be alot less restrictive than apple. yeah it will be totally the same. kinda like every Ferrari but hey Ferrari sucks.

  • JR

    I think if HTC is interested, they are for a number of reasons.

    One is that Palm’s portfolio of patents. This will help keep them out of court with Apple. Not only that, Apple has infringed on many a Palm patent so this would give HTC leverage.

    Two. HTC has been a hardware manufacturer for years and they still are. Yes, they have Sense UI but that is just an overlay to other platforms. Owning their own OS with WebOS will solidify their company a powerhouse. I really don’t think they would kill WebOS, it’s just too good. With their outstanding hardware designs and how fast they get phones to production, coupled with WebOS, HTC will be Apples iPhone nemesis for years to come.

    I for one would love to see this buyout happen. But I would guess that there would be some legal writing if it happened that the Palm name will survive. “HTC Palm Incredible 2″

    Please HTC, make a good bid!

    • Gauntlet Down

      There literally is no evidence that Palm’s “patent portfolio” has any value at all. No one wants to discuss that value in anything other than the vaguest terms – always – yet there are no known companies already licensing the portfolio and Palm certainly is not publicly suing ANYONE over that portfolio and Palm is also a member of RPX (as is HTC BTW) which says that portfolio, even if it DID have value, now has less.

      • NuShrike

        Palm doesn’t have the money to get into a protracted battle with Apple. In fact, Palm’s direct is probably to get to a stable platform monetary base before suing. Otherwise, they become SCO and disappear anyways.

      • You Got Jobbed

        Well, we’re about to find out:

        Palm to tout patent portfolio next month
        By Dieter Bohn | Monday, Apr 12, 2010 | 19 comments »

        How’s this for a followup to a serious buyout rumor? Palm’s Chief Technology Officer Mitch Allen is scheduled to speak on May 11th at “MDB Capital Group’s Bright Lights Conference.” The topic: Palm’s IP and patent portfolio:

        Palm’s Software CTO, Mitch Allen, will share his insights on Palm’s IP leadership and path of innovation where he has worked for the past decade. Mr. Allen has led the development of Palm webOS from conception to implementation.

        If you find that interesting, get this: in the press release issued today, the firm hosting the event has a nice little line about Palm’s value: “we believe the value of Palm’s IP alone is worth between $8 -$9 per share.” That’s an interesting little commentary on the roller coaster that has been Palm’s stock price (trading at around six bucks as of this writing) and the question of whether or not the market is undervaluing Palm’s patent portfolio. It could also potentially drive up the price for whoever buys them.

        http://www.precentral.net/palm-tout-patent-portfolio-next-month

        BtW, you’ve gotta be daft to think that Palm doesn’t a giant bag of goodies in their patent portfolio…

        If Apple has a big patent portfolio and has no problem going after people as they see fit (see: HTC) and Palm still had no problem thumbing their nose at Apple & spoofing the Pre to make itunes recognize it as an iphone, then clearly they don’t think Apple has the balls to have them come after them, because when you’re dealing with patents it’s a #’s game. How many more iphones have been sold that Apple would have to pay a licensing fee to Palm for infringing on their patents compared to Palm paying Apple…

        Palm has a wild card, & it’s carte blanche to keep Apple or anyone else in the phone business from coming after them with patent lawsuits.

  • Matthew

    If HTC switches to web os, google will be losing it’s prime vendor, and all that “protection” from Apple would have been a waste…………Oh boy I hope it happens. I would like to see palm still release it’s own handsets under the name palm, I don’t think I’ll ever buy an htc pre’ or an htc pixie

  • skyy_flyer

    Maybe this is just my own personal pet peeve, but I don’t think that you can really compare Palm to Blackberry. Palm trid to appeal to everyone and failed. Blackberry tried to appeal to corporate and email usage and succeeded dramatically, as their marketshare shows. Are Blackberry’s for everyone? Not at all. I’m sure most of the people that check the tech blogs and want a phone that does everything would much rather and sooner go with the likes of the Droid or Incredible(when available), iphone, or the EVO. But, for a corporation or small business than Blackberrys are definetly a great and ingrained option. So I don’t think you can really say that Blackberry will fail as Palm has. People who complain about the lack of the Blackberry capability probably made a impulse buy and a uneducated buy of one just because they have heard of Blackberry whereas they have better options available to them. Does RIM seem to release the same phone on the outside, and sometimes inside, sure. But, the RIM phone does what they are meant to very effortlessly and flawlessly which would be email. Just buy the phone that suits your needs and just because a phone doesn’t meet your needs no need to say its a failure of a phone and will fail.

  • Chris in AZ

    Personally, I think Palm would be a great pickup for Apple, if only for the IP. Palm is the owner of all the BeOS patents from way back when, including the groovy BeFS from about a decade back. HFS+ is in serious need of replacement, as evidenced by the partial work on ZFS (following abandonment re legal and implementation issues.) Also, BeOS was also microkernel based, with some similar foundation structure to OS X. It should be an easier time to port code than what Haiku was working toward.
    Many of Palm’s own staff are former Apple employees, too, so they’d already be familiar with Apple’s policies and practices. Why Palm hasn’t done more over the years with it’s vast library of really interesting, innovative IP is beyond me. They had such a lead in the marketplace, and basically blew all their opportunities to be a leader in innovation. WebOS was a nice start, and still nice, graphically, but lacks in many regards — especially speed. Sure, if Apple bought Palm, WebOS would die a quiet death, but some of the cooler features might eventually get incorporated into iPhone OS — not a bad deal.

    • NuShrike

      Happens to every major company that has a non-tech/MBA CEO helming the ship. They never see the technical opportunities, and only try to milk the current products to please stockholders (aka Eisner’ing it). [squarely pointing all all the previous Palm CEOs]

      As a corp, nobody is encouraged to take personal responsibility for any project because they rather play it safe so they can move to another ladder/rung in a couple years anyways. This contributes to corporate amnesia where nobody is around long enough to remember who did what, nor have a passion and direction to drive and maintain a project through the marketplace.

  • jonathan

    webOs isn’t a bad Os. I haven’t used it. I’ve seen it running and I’ve heard many great things about it. I hope HTC buys Palm so phones like the HD2 no longer run Windows Mobile.

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Long Beach-Lakewood California, USA

    • DK

      Totally. I’d buy a 5″ screen HTC HD3 or whatever running WebOS.

  • jonathan

    @Chris in AZ,

    that would be nice too.

    Posted from BGR Mobile (iPhone) at: Long Beach-Lakewood California, USA

  • blah

    I agree with the several posters who said that Apple should buy Palm.

    The synergies are real between the two companies. They are located near each other, and the cost savings would help both companies.

    And… if the two got together, maybe Apple would finally allow us to sync our Palm’s to iTunes…

  • blackNberry

    The last thing RIM needs is to purchase a company whose OS is dependent on its users sending their personal info like contacts and calendar to the web (primarily Google) for distribution all over the web.
    RIM needs to develop a new OS that brings it up to date with the likes of iPhone OS 4 and Android 2.1 but with that same security as Blackberry OS 5.x.

  • Android_Issue_4475

    Ahh Palm. My first PDA, but the last 2 years have been like straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic…

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