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Apple, RIM, Google All Bid On Palm

Posted by timothy on from the face-palm-apple dept.

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."

10 of 117 comments (clear)

  1. It seems to me by breakzoidbeg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:It seems to me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Right what's why they went out of business.

  2. Isn't it obvious? by msauve · · Score: 4, Funny

    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
    1. Re:Isn't it obvious? by IntlHarvester · · Score: 4, Informative

      To explain the joke, Palm got started selling its Graffiti software for Newton to replace Apple's dismal handmall reaquisition.

      --
      Business. Numbers. Money. People. Computer World.
  3. Clear for apple by postmortem · · Score: 5, Funny

    They want their antenna design.

  4. Re:BeOS by jaak · · Score: 4, Informative

    BeOS was sold when Palm spun off PalmSource, which is now owned by Access http://www.access-company.com/

  5. Marginally Useful by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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)
  6. To jack up the price for HP by cryfreedomlove · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  7. Be Inc included by Henriok · · Score: 5, Informative

    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 -
  8. Re:Apple vs. Nokia by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Insightful

    To me, patent trolls are companies that people are companies that don't actually create any products themselves, but just hold patents and use them to extract money from companies that do create products. They are parasites.

    Neither Apple nor Nokia are patent trolls.