TamsPalm – the Palm OS / web OS Blog

When Palm was taken over by HP, many wondered what the company intended to do with the goods it had acquired. Some HP heads said that they were not interested in phones, other mentioned printers – the situation reminded careful onlookers of HP’s infamous 5way navigator designs on the late iPaq line.

The video below shows a HP CTO talking on HP’s plans with Palm:

His core message was that HP bought Palm to get into the phone business – let’s see if this really holds true…

An old Austrian proverb states that one shall not seek information with the secretary, but rather go straight to the chief. At Aceeca’s, this yields extraordinary results – Alex Topschij just left us a comment with some further, interesting details:

Tam,
… I will be your most reliable source of up to date information. As a small company we certainly have had some real issues getting these new devices out to the market and I accept we have lost some credibility with our previous target release dates. The PDA32-Garnet is VERY close to shipping (yes we missed June), we have shipped a number to beta testers and have made some enhancements as a result of their feedback. One of the main issues was the sensitivity of the touch panel. It is all looking pretty good now and I can arrange for you to get an eval unit next week – just check with Cecile and she will arrange it. I will provide more info on the MEZ1500 (both Garnet and CE) in due course.
Cheers
Alex.

If I see the situation correctly from here, the folks could be in some kind of “perfection madness cycle” – while this tends to sound good, I have personally seen such a situation have terrible effects on companies multiple times in the past. IMHO, good enough is good enough.

But it’s always good to hear something new from Aceeca…

We’ve heard our fair share of reports on the HP / Palm takeovers – the latest report now states that HP is into cleaning up its purchase.

John Paczkowski now reports the following (emphasis by yours truly):

I’m not quite sure, but make no mistake, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) has cut some former Palm staffers from its ranks as it closes its acquisition of the smartphone maker. I’m hearing different numbers from sources (once) close to the company, so it’s difficult to put a firm number on them. Sounds like it’s not too, too many though. Double digits, not hundreds. Still: sad and awful

…

If HP manages to cut the foul apples from the tree, I don’t consider it sad but rather good – former insiders like Adam Tow have long said that a clean-up is urgently needed.

HP’s intention to take over Palm has been out for some time – while the companies had already agreed some time ago, they have not been able to clear all regulatory hurdles so far.

This has now changed according to HP. Their full release goes as following:

HP today announced it has completed its acquisition of Palm Inc. at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash.

The combination gives HP significant headway into one of technology’s fastest-growth segments with Palm’s innovative webOS platform and family of smartphones, plus a rich portfolio of intellectual property from the smartphone pioneer.

HP’s global scale and financial strength plus Palm’s award-winning webOS experience, as well as its acclaimed Pre and Pixi smartphone product lines, enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the highly profitable, $100 billion smartphone and connected mobile device markets.

“With webOS, HP will deliver its customers a unique and compelling experience across smartphones and other mobility products,” said Todd Bradley, executive vice president, Personal Systems Group, HP. “This allows us the opportunity to fully engage in growing our smartphone family offering and the footprint of webOS.”

Under Jon Rubinstein, former Palm chairman and chief executive officer, the Palm global business unit will report to Bradley. Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products, from a robust smartphone roadmap to future slate PCs and netbooks.

“With HP’s full backing and global strengths, I’m confident that webOS will be able to reach its full potential,” said Rubinstein. ”This agreement will accelerate the development of this incredible platform with new resources, scale and support from a world-respected brand.”

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Not much to add here…