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Apple, RIM, Google All Bid On Palm
imamac writes "It seems HP was only one of many bidders for the struggling Palm. The others included Apple, RIM and even Google. You may now commence speculation on why the various companies wanted Palm."
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That Palms Patent portfolio would have been the target. Palm has been around for years, and they have a deep patent well to draw from.
I don't understand why Apple or Google (Or Nokia) would want Palm. At least if the main asset was WebOS - none of these companies would ditch the mobile OS they are backing in favour of it.
So my wild arsed guess is that Palm had enough patents that the various companies thought would be useful in the court battles that are just beginning. But at the price a company like Palm would fetch - the patents must be valuable!
It would fit with HP paying more - they get the patents and WebOS and they weren't previously backing a mobile OS.
Struggling to find a day everyone can make? WhenShallWe.com
This would give them an instant beachhead in the cell phone manufacturing world.
They all just wanted to release a new BeOS!!! seriously what else would you want with palm ?
Apple wanted Palm's handwriting recognition technology, so they could reintroduce the Newton.
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
They want their antenna design.
umm HP already won the bid. Unless Google makes HP an offer its a done deal.
I thought here name was Rosie
The Navy Motto "IF it ain't broke Fix It" "A day is wasted if you don't learn something new"
I can see why those three would bid, but it's also clear why HP was willing to pay more - they gained something entirely new. So, they'll gain a real competitive edge from the buy, not just a fanciful IP one.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
You got it! Apple for one likely wanted to use these to support their case against Nokia and as a defense as well. The way patents are given these days; a pioneering company like Palm likely has many broad patents that Nokia is "infringing" upon. And yes both Nokia and Apple are patent trolls looking to get a free lunch.
HP paid $1.2 Billion. That's about $1 Billion more than it was really worth. I think Apple, RIM, and Google deliberately hobbled HP by bidding up the price but not high enough that HP would not still take that dinosaur into their house.
I think these companies missed out on a good thing.
Microsoft would gain the WebOS, plus some phone hardware. In Microsoft's hands, the WebOS could have been offered across multiple hardware platforms, creating a good competitor to Android. Or, Microsoft could have simply folded aspects of the WebOS into Windows 7.
Nokia would have immediately regained a good, solid foothold in the US market.
Sony would have gained a versatile OS to power its device portfolio.
It would have been an epic irony if Apple had bought Palm and gotten the remnants of Be Inc with it. I love the tech industry! I made a graph over the turbulent history of Palm, sorting out the finer details in the timeline. For those of you that haven't payed attention the last 20 years. http://alltommac.se/files/2010/04/palm-history-graph.png
- Henrik
- when the Shadows descend -
Shake hands with my wife...
Apple wants him back!
Ewwwwwww.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Patent-based threats are just a part of business. They all do it, and Apple is not the worst offender by far.
I think any of these companies could develop an OS for less than $1.2bn and I can't see it taking them that much time either. It's not like they would have to start from scratch.
That's true of Nokia, since they have Meego.
But Microsoft and Sony - Microsoft did pretty much start from scratch, it's Windows Mobile 7. And Sony has less than nothing, not even really having mobile hardware at the moment.
For them it could have been a big boost. But Sony is for some reason staying out of Mobile, and Microsoft turns down anything that's not somehow C# based.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
The hardware is a little suspect but the OS itself is the best mobile OS out there. True multitasking, great scheduling (with support for multiple Exchange servers), integrated Facebook, etc. The messaging app is fantastic too. HP says that they won't make another phone, which is too bad. With a decent handset, WebOS is head and shoulders above anything else currently available.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
I mean, really, who cares if whatever they'd use it for would be in beta for five years?
RIM over-complicates every step of working with their devices and has a system deliberately created with a central, single point of failure.
I don't think I need to describe to the Slashdot crowd why Apple should keep away.
Not reading the story. Disregard that, I... um... never mind.
They wanted the rights to BeOS. :)
Although they'd probably have been better off donating a few million to http://www.gorilla-haven.org/ to get Pimlico's DateBk6 (http://www.pimlicosoftware.com/). I'm still amazed at how relatively crappy the calendar and address book apps are on Blackberries 10 years after people figured it out properly on the Palm, and I don't think I've ever heard of anyone being truly happy with address books on any of the big smartphones.
fencepost
just a little off
Google bid up 4G Spectrum to force the neutrality rule.
Verizon and AT&T both bid up the other's acquisitions in order to cost them money. Some of it may have been to get what's left of Palm, but I bet the Majority wanted the other to overpay for that patent portfolio.
Um, because there is a large user base out there that needs a migration path? Because some of us still have Palm memo, contact, and calendar databases?
Yes, but don't you understand his post is not based on reason, but on blind hatred of Apple? I was wondering how far I'd have to scroll to find someone who decided to frame this in a negative light with respect to Apple, and I didn't have to scroll far.
Because HP isn't in the OS business, yet. Think about it, right now, HP is beholden to Microsoft for stuff to run on their hardware. And right now, it is clear that MS is screwing up right and left in anything OTHER than a desktop OS/Office suite. They have *no* mobile solution. And mobile is the future.
Apple has lead the way, and Google is catching up fast. We're not sure where RIM is, but they have annoucned a Tablet, which means that *maybe* they have an OS for it.
But HP's "slate" will be an abysmal failure, UNLESS they have a killer OS ... something that can take on the iPad and really revolutionize the market. And who has a Tablet OS that's actually good enough to take on Apple?
Why, that would be Palm. Poor Palm, hamstrung by lackluster marketing and so-so hardware, with mediocre sales as a result. Yet, their OS (and patent portfolio) is so valuable, I'm surprised half of Silicon Valley isn't trampling over each other to get it.
A Tablet running WebOS could actually compete with the iPad. *If* if were marketed properly, and *if* the hardware was good too. Ironically, HP is the only company I would trust to make decent hardware, even after the purging of all their good engineers due to Carly. But they have the muscle and the East Asia contacts to make it happen.
In other words, HP could make Microsoft irrelevant in the mobile marketplace... With Google playing catch-up. Now wouldn't *that* be ironic?
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
They all wanted a Palm job. Who doesn't, really?
Seriously any BeHead owes it to themselves to check out Haiku. It is really the only unknown OS that seems to really have a strong value proposition.