July 6, 2010 – HP announced that they completed the acquisition of Palm, creators of the award-winning webOS mobile platform and the Pre and Pixi smartphone product line. This merger will allow HP to participate more aggressively in the highly profitable $100 billion smartphone and connected mobile device markets.
Palm’s webOS is said by many to be a great mobile operating system. One of the biggest problems Palm had in the mobile market was the financial backing. They’ve been struggling for many years and their Pre and Pixi line of smartphones was their last ditch effort for survival. Unfortunately because of the existing and growing market of BlackBerry and iPhones users, it was nearly impossible for them to break in and claim their market share.
HP has some nice mobile hardware products but the user experience is still Windows OS based which leaves a lot to be desired in a mobile platform. Now with some hardware modifications and the inclusion of Palm’s webOS, HP has the opportunity to be a real competitor in the mobile space. It will be interesting to see what they come up with and I’m sure the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) will be buzzing this year with new product releases.
For us iPhone and BlackBerry users, this acquisition is good news. Competition is good, it drives innovation and keeps products fresh offering us the great new features we didn’t even know we wanted.
–
*The Current Photographer website contains links to our affiliate partners. Purchasing products and services through these links helps support our efforts to bring you the quality information you love and there’s no additional cost to you.
Founder of Current Photographer, co-host of The Digital Photography Cafe Show, Designer, Photographer, and overall tech geek.