5 ms·

I'm astonished that they aren't even going to bother selling it off. With the Google/Motorola merger, surely one of the Android partners has to be feeling a li

by drgath 15y ago

I'm astonished that they aren't even going to bother selling it off. With the Google/Motorola merger, surely one of the Android partners has to be feeling a little uncomfortable right now. Hell, Motorola was always rumored to be working on its own JS-based OS because it didn't like the position of relying only on Android.

recoiledsnake 15y ago
Who would buy it? HTC or Samsung? Nokia? The OEMs are worse at making OSes and dev ecosystems than even HP which has experience making a UNIX based OS. And it's not as if buying WebOS will stop the patent attacks, in fact, it may increase them. They would simply be better off with Android/Windows 8 for tablets As Nokia's CEO said, it's a battle of ecosystems now, not devices anymore. Maybe RIM's next, either for a takeover, or a failure.
- robterrell 15y ago
  Who would buy it? How about the bidder who lost out, Apple? http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-rim-google-hp-palm-2010-7 http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-rim-google-hp-palm-2010... One year later, I'm sure whatever it was Apple saw in Palm (patents, according to the above article) is still there.
  - nl 15y ago
    Oh please.... An unnamed source claimed something that the article itself says there's a bunch of problems with this idea and we are supposed to believe it? It was more likely a rumour that someone at Palm was putting around to try and push the price up, and the "source" believed it.
roc 15y ago
More surprising than not selling it: why not just send webOS out with the consumer PC spinoff? There's probably not a high-margin future for it but surely it would be an asset for a consumer company.
bradleyland 15y ago
As a whole, I don't see much value. Why would anyone be interested in purchasing a failed-to-launch tablet product when Android tablets sell well and the software is free (outside of patent deals with trolls)? The distinction of having your own software didn't work for HP, so why should it work for Samsung/HTC/etc? However! I think the big sale is yet to come. When HP bought Palm, they acquired their 1,600-ish patents as well. Palm was a very early player in the smartphone market, so it's conceivable that this portfolio contains some attractive property. Having paid $1.2 billion for Palm, either selling this patent portfolio outright, or taking the Lodsys route seems plausible. Given the heat around patent acquisition right now, they'd probably do pretty well; maybe even exceeding their original purchase price.
- blinkingled 15y ago
  Yes. Palm patents have the potential of creating another Nortel type situation. That is possibly a part of "optimization of webOS revenue". Would be interesting to see who gets a hold of this pile.
  - drgath 15y ago
    HP already has a hold of this pile. I wouldn't just assume that because they're exiting the hardware business they have no (future) need for that portfolio. Heck, if anything, they'll have to hold on to those if they hope to license webOS to other handset makers (the latest rumor).
    - blinkingled 15y ago
      It is hard to imagine why they will sit on the Palm portfolio without hardware business considering their new focus is to become IBM/SAP like - enterprisey. IBM for e.g. sold 1000 patents to Google short while ago. And besides, I am not certain webOS licensing is going to go very far. We will see..
    - bradleyland 15y ago
      There's definitely a lot of strategy being reviewed inside HP right now. They have a number of options available to them, some of which include licensing the entire platform, or even specific patents. Having paid $1.2bn for Palm, and having observed two large patent portfolios sell for a number that is 10x that, I'd imagine that there is at least some consideration being given to exiting while the market for mobile patents is hot. Licensing is a much longer play, but it's also fraught with the risk of having to enforce the portfolio with litigation, not to mention the threat of patent reform.
mikeryan 15y ago
Sell what off? They're keeping WebOS (at least for now) not sure what kind of manufacturing Palm does but its likely small and something that HP could continue to use. I dont' doubt HP is still going to build Tablets and phones they're just likely going to be Android.

by drgath 15y ago

recoiledsnake 15y ago

Who would buy it? HTC or Samsung? Nokia? The OEMs are worse at making OSes and dev ecosystems than even HP which has experience making a UNIX based OS. And it's not as if buying WebOS will stop the patent attacks, in fact, it may increase them. They would simply be better off with Android/Windows 8 for tablets As Nokia's CEO said, it's a battle of ecosystems now, not devices anymore. Maybe RIM's next, either for a takeover, or a failure.

robterrell 15y ago
Who would buy it? How about the bidder who lost out, Apple? http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-rim-google-hp-palm-2010-7 http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-rim-google-hp-palm-2010... One year later, I'm sure whatever it was Apple saw in Palm (patents, according to the above article) is still there.
- nl 15y ago
  Oh please.... An unnamed source claimed something that the article itself says there's a bunch of problems with this idea and we are supposed to believe it? It was more likely a rumour that someone at Palm was putting around to try and push the price up, and the "source" believed it.

roc 15y ago

More surprising than not selling it: why not just send webOS out with the consumer PC spinoff? There's probably not a high-margin future for it but surely it would be an asset for a consumer company.

bradleyland 15y ago

As a whole, I don't see much value. Why would anyone be interested in purchasing a failed-to-launch tablet product when Android tablets sell well and the software is free (outside of patent deals with trolls)? The distinction of having your own software didn't work for HP, so why should it work for Samsung/HTC/etc? However! I think the big sale is yet to come. When HP bought Palm, they acquired their 1,600-ish patents as well. Palm was a very early player in the smartphone market, so it's conceivable that this portfolio contains some attractive property. Having paid $1.2 billion for Palm, either selling this patent portfolio outright, or taking the Lodsys route seems plausible. Given the heat around patent acquisition right now, they'd probably do pretty well; maybe even exceeding their original purchase price.

blinkingled 15y ago
Yes. Palm patents have the potential of creating another Nortel type situation. That is possibly a part of "optimization of webOS revenue". Would be interesting to see who gets a hold of this pile.
- drgath 15y ago
  HP already has a hold of this pile. I wouldn't just assume that because they're exiting the hardware business they have no (future) need for that portfolio. Heck, if anything, they'll have to hold on to those if they hope to license webOS to other handset makers (the latest rumor).
  - blinkingled 15y ago
    It is hard to imagine why they will sit on the Palm portfolio without hardware business considering their new focus is to become IBM/SAP like - enterprisey. IBM for e.g. sold 1000 patents to Google short while ago. And besides, I am not certain webOS licensing is going to go very far. We will see..
  - bradleyland 15y ago
    There's definitely a lot of strategy being reviewed inside HP right now. They have a number of options available to them, some of which include licensing the entire platform, or even specific patents. Having paid $1.2bn for Palm, and having observed two large patent portfolios sell for a number that is 10x that, I'd imagine that there is at least some consideration being given to exiting while the market for mobile patents is hot. Licensing is a much longer play, but it's also fraught with the risk of having to enforce the portfolio with litigation, not to mention the threat of patent reform.

mikeryan 15y ago

Sell what off? They're keeping WebOS (at least for now) not sure what kind of manufacturing Palm does but its likely small and something that HP could continue to use. I dont' doubt HP is still going to build Tablets and phones they're just likely going to be Android.