Sponsored By

HP To Buy Palm, Inc. For $1.2 Billion

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard said it will acquire smartphone manufacturer Palm, Inc. in a cash deal worth $1.2 billion, as HP looks to strengthen its foothold in the growing mobile market, including smartphone games.

Chris Remo, Blogger

April 28, 2010

1 Min Read
Game Developer logo in a gray background | Game Developer

Computer giant Hewlett-Packard said today it plans to acquire smartphone manufacturer Palm, Inc. in a cash deal worth $1.2 billion, as HP looks to strengthen its foothold in the growing mobile market, including smartphone games. In recent weeks, speculation about a Palm acquisition had mounted, with the company lowering its earnings projections in the face of increasing competition from mobile competitors like Apple, Google, and BlackBerry. Palm was an early leading figure in the mobile device market, dominating the now effectively-extinct personal digital assistant segment before smartphones rapidly took over. In the past year, the company has gained notice for its new technology, including its webOS operating system, which it showcased for game development at this year's Game Developers Conference in March. "Palm’s innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP’s mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices," said HP personal systems group EVP Todd Bradley in a statement. "And, Palm possesses significant IP assets and has a highly skilled team," he added. "The smartphone market is large, profitable and rapidly growing, and companies that can provide an integrated device and experience command a higher share." HP has its own line of iPaq mobile devices -- formerly Palm competitors -- which it inherited in 2002 through its acquisition of Compaq. In a short blog post on Palm's official site, online communications director Jon Zilber wrote, "Can you say 'webOS acceleration'? We're pretty excited, and pleased we surprised the world again."

Read more about:

2010

About the Author

Chris Remo

Blogger

Chris Remo is Gamasutra's Editor at Large. He was a founding editor of gaming culture site Idle Thumbs, and prior to joining the Gamasutra team he served as Editor in Chief of hardcore-oriented consumer gaming site Shacknews.

Daily news, dev blogs, and stories from Game Developer straight to your inbox

You May Also Like