Talkin' Palm vol. 39 | webOS Nation
 
 
 

Talkin' Palm vol. 39 7

by Annie Latham Thu, 06 May 2010 12:43 pm EDT

 

Wow, so we assume you saw the HP announcement heard round the world. Most of the trending stories up to that point had to do with which suitor would "win." Now that we know, let's gauge the reaction.

The following are some interesting stories that hit.

Cody Willard's The Cody Word:
Five reasons investors should know about why HP bought Palm

At #4, "HP doesn’t want Cisco buying Palm." Zing! Much more after the break, including the bits from last week's HP-preempted column

Tim Bajarin: Why HP bought Palm

A couple of years ago, HP execs told me that their company was interested in buying Palm, but the timing wasn't right. They were right—Palm hadn't created webOS yet. Given the current market forces and the lessons HP has since learned about controlling user experience, the timing is ideal. Now HP can offer a complete hardware, software, and service solution for mobile computing. Now HP can control its own mobile future. I think it will be a successful marriage, with HP becoming a mobile powerhouse over time.

Forrester (Michele Pelino):  HP’s Acquisition Of Palm Is Not A Match Made In Heaven

…if you look under the hood, this acquisition has a key flaw. HP currently offers iPAQ PDAs and handsets that use Microsoft’s Windows Mobile operating system, but these devices have had limited success among enterprise users. Will acquiring Palm put HP in a strong position against other competitive mobile operating systems vendors? Not necessarily. In Forrester’s survey of over 1,000 IT decision makers in North American and European enterprises, only 12% of firms officially support or manage Palm devices. In comparison, 70% of enterprises support BlackBerry smartphones, and 29% support Apple iPhones. Android devices, the newest entrants in the mobile OS wars, have strong momentum and are officially supported by 13% of firms.

Wolfgang Gruener -Tom's Hardware: HP and Palm: How To Waste a Billion Dollars

  • What? Two phones for $1.2 billion?
  • Can a non-existent brand revive a dead brand?
  • Palm is not important enough

So let me get this straight: HP wants to sell lots of smart phones and enter this extremely lucrative market, but it is not important enough to create its own division and instead, put the business under the roof of the PC unit? How innovative can Palm be under the PC division? How can Palm succeed against Apple if it cannot breathe free? I believe that the integration in the PC business sends the wrong signal to Palm employees and prepares Palm for failure. 

All Things Digital - John Paczkowski :  HP’s Next Task: Triple Palm’s Revenue

By all measures, this appears to be a Herculean task given the declining momentum behind WebOS among consumers & developers,” Deutsche Bank analyst, Chris Whitmore writes. “While we do see merit in HP’s strategy to extend WebOS beyond the smartphone market into slates/tablets/etc, the investment required to tap this opportunity may be larger than expected….

*****

The stock climbed over $5 after the announcement.

Also, if you are interested in a recap of Palm's timeline, here's what PC World put together.

What's Tweetin' -- HP Buys Palm

What's Tweetin' Other Topics

The price drop and questions about new Palm hardware dominated the non-HP-related tweets.

  • Update: Easiest way to create custom ringtones for the Palm Pre http://bit.ly/95Vh5C -- TTPre
  • Take pics of ur kids, call your mom, email your friends, shop online, all from the Palm Pre. And we're giving 1 away: http://bit.ly/dvsbdu -- EverythingMom
  • Confirmed: The #Touchstone does work on the @Palm #Pre if you have Ghost Armor on the back cover. -- cycler
  • Verizon’s Palm Pre Plus Price Pared to Paltry $30 http://cli.gs/8LA3T -- dailymobileus
  • pic here
  • @palm I love WebOS & HP is cool too, I suppose. But regardless, I NEED new hardware. My Pre is old news, & the summer is time for an upgrade -- MaherFarah
  • @joshuatopolsky I have a feeling that you are testing the ATT @Palm Pre Plus to review it on @Engadget. Am I right? -- TreoRock
  • Took this photo on my @Palm #Pre while rollerblading in Tipton, IN. http://twitpic.com/1kq7om -- anotherguy

 

...And now here's what you might have missed from before HP's big announcement.

Reviews:

App News:

Other:

  • InfoWorld Mobile Deathmatch Calculator - This is an interesting way to evaluate which smartphone is best for you.  If you are using it in a small business, the Pre gets a Good (7.0) rating, only behind the iPhone 3Gs.
Category:
Tags:

7 Comments

Posted by Depadilla on Thu, 06 May 2010 12:51 pm EDT

WOW! is my take to HP Buyout! Can hardly wait for it to close so we can see some movement ....

Posted by zechzz on Thu, 06 May 2010 1:10 pm EDT

lol @ toms hardware review. That web site is the biggest joke ever it's reviews never match anyone elses when it comes to computers I stear clear of their reviews & advice.

Posted by Tyndall on Thu, 06 May 2010 1:33 pm EDT

I think this will all work out to both parties advantage. Looking forward to a great WebOs tablet experience. i think if properly executed a WebOs tablet could pull off 75% of what typical users use a netbook or laptop for. A good software keyboard would be a necessity of course, but just think of how easily a WebOS tablet device could be used to surf, tweet, and social network while emailing and seamlessly switching back and forth through cards.

I am less jazzed about new mobile handset hardware. I'll hold off my accolades until I see something really intriguing HINT HINT GO LOOK AT DELL's handsets please.......

Posted by dett2000 on Thu, 06 May 2010 2:07 pm EDT

That tweet from MaherFarah is right on - I've had my Sprint Pre for almost a year. I love it, but last week I dropped it from pretty far up and now the slider gets stuck when sliding in and out.

We need to see something ASAP! OR, if they could announce a product coming out in a few months, that'd be great. Go HPALM!

Posted by bankerdanny on Thu, 06 May 2010 2:41 pm EDT

I've been saying the same thing he did for the past couple months.

The Pre is a good entry level smart phone and was a good first effort. But the small screen and limited memory kill it vs the Droid and Incredible and what will almost certainly be a 32gb entry level iPhone 4.

Get me an upgrade this summer and make sure to sell it though Sprint or I am almost certainly leaving the ranks of Palm owners (again, I traded my Treo 650 for a Blackberry 8800 a few years back).

Posted by Drizzt321 on Thu, 06 May 2010 2:56 pm EDT

I really like that "Smart enough for a Mom" link. My mother is on Verizon, and I'm actually pretty jealous of her since she has a Pixi.

Posted by SirThoreth on Thu, 06 May 2010 4:00 pm EDT

Getting a 404 on the Tim Bajarin PCMag.com link.

That said, something I think Michele Pelino missed with regards to enterprise support for Palm versus other platforms is the high level of enterprise support that HP has. HP, I suspect, is planning to leverage their business market to help drive WebOS device sales amongst corporate customers.