Wednesday night Hp has surprised everyone by announcing the acquisition of Palm through which the company intends to invest more heavily in the segment of smartphones. The transaction will be concluded no later than July 31. John Rubinstein, Chairman and CEO of Palm, should remain in society.
The company informed that Palm ready to fall into the hands of an Asian giant as Lenovo but yesterday HP confirmed it has signed an agreement with Palm for $ 1.2 billion dollars $ 5.70 per share (compared to 23 short of yesterday). With this acquisition, HP’s goal is very simple, it is carving out a market share exponentially and very juicy smartphones by exploiting the strengths of two great Palm: WebOS and its portfolio of patents. For its part, “HP brings its financial strength and will invest heavily in product development. The R & D budget of Palm, which is estimated at 190 million dollars, will be increased provided that Todd Bradley predicts a very large overall investment from next year.
The transaction, which will have to obtain approval of the regulator, should be finalized in a court on 3 rd HP fiscal quarter that ends July 31. “The acquisition of Palm is a transformative moment , “said Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP, who was himself Chairman and CEO of Palm in 2003.
Tablets and netbooks WebOS?
HP prefers a category approach. Palm Pre Pixi and will continue their careers on the consumer segment with a reinforcement marketing result. Then there is the category of Internet tablets with which HP will also target the general public but will seek a breakthrough to the areas of education and health. In both cases, new products will arrive probably late 2010 – early 2011.
John Rubinstein has also admitted that HP was going to give Palm ways to deploy the OS on different platforms.
Preparing the ground
For its part, HP will also be done to organize the sale of these products. Bradley admitted that he would also have to work intensively relationship with operators to build a distribution network which HP does not yet. Asked about the Apple model and whether HP would also design a content platform for its products, Todd Bradley has been very clear: “our goal is to provide connected devices. We’re not content creators but ISPs. Last important point, Palm is expected to remain a full body within HP and John Rubinstein is expected to remain in society with most teams. His future role has not been mentioned.