After putting up a fight against Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry, Palm has finally given up the struggle – and is up for sale.
Unable to compete when it comes to smartphone sales, Palm has taken the decision to put itself up for sale. This follows the lower-than-anticipated sales of its newest handsets, the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi.
When news broke – Bloomberg News reported that Palm has instructed Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners to seek out a buyer, and is looking for bids this week – sales in Palm rose by 17%.
One potential buyer is U2’s Bono who has an approximate stake in Palm of 30%, after his investment business Elevation Partners injected $460 million/£300 million into the smartphone company in 2007.
Charles Wolf, a technology analyst at stockbroker Needham & Co, believes the likes of Nokia and RIM may want to buy Palm – and use the technology to tackle Google’s Android platform as well as the iPhone.
Mr Wolf said: “The problem is they just don’t have enough in the way of resources. It’s unfortunate because the company has reasonably good products.” And with regard to possible buyers, he pointed out: “Palm’s software is in the same class as the iPhone and Android.”
Originally successful for its innovative electrical devices like the Palm Pilot which let users write on a screen with an electronic pen, Palm was founded by Jeff Hawkins in 1992. Palm began life focusing on products like electronic diaries but soon began developing mobile phones and other software.
In fact, Palm’s asset with the highest worth is not its smartphones but its WebOS, and if the rumours are to be believed then companies like HTC and Lenovo may also be keen to snap up Palm.
The theory of Palm’s demise according to the experts is that Palm has been unable to market its smartphone range effectively.
Palm has declined to comment.
You can read more on Palm and its sale over on The Guardian UK.
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