With Palm, HP could be a huge innovator in the web 25
Here's an exciting thought: now that HP will be the driving force behind webOS, the world's largest technology company will soon become one of the biggest and most innovative drivers in the Web space. Palm, as you know, has been no slouch when it comes to driving the adoption of next-gen web technology, with the company pushing the edge of what's possible with web technology by making it a keystone technology in the "prized possession" that is webOS. Sure, the details of the buyout are still up in the air, but if HP brings Palm in as a semi-autonomous business unit and allows the existing engineering corps to do what they do best, then the future of mobile computing just got a whole lot brighter.
As @bgalbs wisely pointed out, HP's $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm isn't just an investment in the company's smartphone efforts going forward; it's a huge bet on the web itself.
25 Comments
Look what they did for the iPAQ.
Look what they are doing with EDS.
Don't overlook the fact that in buying Palm, HP instantly has an already-up-and-running Mobile App Store - an increasingly necessary part of any mobile strategy.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the final sale price climb above the $1.2Bn
Yes, Palm should demand an extra $1000 per each and every app currently in the App Store. $1000 x 2000 = $2 million dollars.
So, you are saying 1.202 billion? :)
That's my point. The previous poster proposes that the App Catalog is a significant asset that could change the valuation of Palm. I'm just proposing some method of valuation to see what that might be. $1000 per app. That includes all sort of quote apps from Brighthand.
The app catalog IS a significant asset. The CEO even mentioned it in his Investor call yesterday.
:)
At over 2200 applications, it is established and ready for exponential growth, which this acquisition will likely fuel.
Putting a monetary value on it, however, is a bit premature.
IMO, of course.
Look what Palm did with BeOS. They built it up not only as a mobile platform but to run all sorts of devices to compete with Windows and OSX. Wait. No they didn't. Never mind.
untidyguy your funny.
question Mr. Untidyguy.. Why would Palm want to be fragmented like Android for being on multiple devices with different resolutions, different chip sets, different memory etc etc.. 3 of the 5 top OS's out there our available only on their personal brand... RIM(thats Blackberry just to help you out), Apple, and Palm.. Lets look at the issues with the other 2 OS's out that are available on all sorts of devices.. Android.. What is there like 5different versions of Android.. Gee why is that? Oh ya cause it's on multiple devices and because each one and each company making their headsets are different the newest version of android will not work on most Android phones... Wow that's some fun fragmentation going on there.. But hey if that's your thing go for it woo hoo.. And windows mobile is the other.. Um nothing spectacular about them due to keeping it basic because of multiple devices and wait there's some fragmentation there too. Lets not forget how awesome WinMos internet browser is! (sarcasm in case you didn't notice) but hey what am I to say anything right? I don't work for Palm, I don't work for HP, or any of the tech sites out here.. I'm just a regular guy that knows what works best for me(WebOS)..... Anyone can find faults with any mobile company right now.. That's easy to do.
Look a squirrel!
HPalm is about as exciting as it gets when it comes to mergers and how they're going to effect the future of mobile computing.
IMO webos is the premier smartphone os, and HP has everything it takes to propagate that software onto as much hardware as it can and should be on.
Then again, only time will tell. But I for one welcome our new HPalm overlords.
Well, what we've seen speaks for itself. Palm have apparently been taken over, conquered if you will, by a printer company. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will lay off Palm's employees or merely enslave them. But one thing is for certain...there is no stopping them. HP will soon be here. And I, also, would like to welcome our new corporate overlords.
a printer company? Ok you need to shop more then just walmart there xlmtc.. HP has probally one of the coolest computers out there right now, a total innovation.. They took touchscreen technology and applied it to a home computer and I have used one it's so easy to use. Just like using a touchscreen phone like the Pre or Iphone but on a gigantic monitor...well compared to a mobile device. Printers are just a meer fraction of everything HP does.
Yes. I know. I was making a joke. Which I'm pretty sure I was just copying from the guy above me. But anyway, Palm is dead. Long live Palm.
http://simpsons.wikia.com/wiki/Deep_Space_Homer
Gah, meant affect, not effect.
HP has a lot of intellectual property for the web, web services, cloud computing, etc. They've also been working PC's with multiple OS'. So this purchase can have an impact on both corporate and consumer, in mobile devices and more stationary ones, and on the web or on a network. There's a lot more to this than some of the more astute folks on the street and in the valley have articulated so far.
Maybe we can finally get a push service and better cloud
That's what I was thinking. If the Mojo Messaging Service were to get off the ground in an elegant way, that would really breathe life into all of Palm's existing devices, as well as any future devices. It would be awesome if the phone was driven by push notifications, rather than constant polling. I would love to know the moment I have a new email message, but please don't download it automatically. Save my battery. Let me look it up if I need to. The same goes for Twitter, Facebook or any other service you wish to subscribe to. Hopefully the extra backing should make it even easier (and more fun) to work in webOS
Agreed
Sorry for the triple post. Just realized that phone refreshing reposts.
double post
I would like to know whatnew tools can hp provide palm to change or improve webos. What new features we can expect? What ip and or patents can palm use exclusively that apple can't. Also can we see so sort of desktop syncing in the near future( itunes like)? Maybe printing feature. And also would palms staff grow fast after the deal is done? Would we get better webos upgrades faster? I'm not too concerned about a new webos device coming out right away_ I think improving weboos and the app catalog should be a big first todo, at least till the fall or so. What you guys think?
I agree that they need to focus on implementing the improvements they talked about at the dev conference. And, beefing up the app catalog is always necessary (with iPhone and Android to compete with). I do believe that new best in class hardware is also necessary.
As far as what tools HP can bring. Outside on resources and future hardware (mobile and tablet). I was thinking they could help in getting the Palm infrastructure implemented faster (i.e. Mojo Messaging).
I agree with kkhanmd, I'm hoping this merger will speed up the implementation of the Mojo Messaging service and the cloud service gets more refined. It looks as though they are working on some background performance improvements with javascript so I'm optimistic!