HTC passes on Palm acquisition
By James • Apr 27th, 2010 • Category: HTC, Industry News
- Photo: HTC
Word has it HTC has dropped it’s bid to acquire Palm, passing on both the company’s hardware and webOS mobile operating system products.
Not enough synergy
Reportedly, the reason for dropping the bid is that, having looked at Palm’s financials, technology and doing general due diligence, HTC did not find enough synergy between the two companies.
Lenovo mobile a possibility?
This leaves fast-growing Chinese computing company Lenovo as the last known high profile buyer. Lenovo, who have in the last three years skyrocketed in terms of computer sales, have a huge market presence in Asia, Africa and Europe, but have struggled to crack the US market to date. The thinking on the part of Lenovo, according to those close to the deal, is that buying Palm would give them a good distribution channel as well as an established, although ailing, brand name in America.
£780 million
- Photo: Palm
It is rumoured £780 million is Palm’s sale price. However, given how its brands are currently struggling, and additional due diligence may reveal the company’s product roadmap is less than exciting, nor is it’s brand name that big of a deal anymore, that valuation may drop still.
webOS the cherry on top
The big deal with Palm is, of course, its webOS mobile operating system. When HTC was still the forerunner in acquiring Palm, many analysts predicted this could mean HTC would begin adopting an iPhone-esque and BlackBerry-esque approach to mobile phones by having software and hardware developed in-house, as opposed to using WinMo and Google’s Android as its software framework.
Lenovo, in addition to its potential new-found phone business, could quite possibly adapt webOS as an alternative operating system for the company’s inevitable move into contemporary tablets, giving it both a new market with something different, as well as a platform for investing significant resources into Palm’s most promising asset.
Tags for this article: htc, palm, Palm acquisition
