At least one guy at HP remembers the Palm acquisition
Just over a year ago, HP 'won' the bidding war for Palm. Nearly a year ago, HP formally acquired Palm -- "not for smartphones" -- for $1. 2 billion.
Since then? Not shit. Despite the most glorious press release:
The combination of HP’s global scale and financial strength with Palm’s unparalleled webOS platform will enhance HP’s ability to participate more aggressively in the fast-growing, highly profitable smartphone and connected mobile device markets. Palm’s unique webOS will allow HP to take advantage of features such as true multitasking and always up-to-date information sharing across applications.
Any more aggressively and I'm gonna fall asleep in my chair.
If memory serves, the past year has been a busy one for HP. The details are hazy but I believe the former CEO never returned to work after a night of boozing and skeezing with Charlie Sheen and some guy from the IMF.
A bunch of other execs left.
And the stock has had a long, slow but steady decline. About -23% since a year ago today:
Oh, and they may or may not have a working CEO. Too soon to tell.
And if you look really really hard, you might find a Palm/HP/webOS device at AT&T. Though I suspect you won't look really really hard. And should you, I'm convinced you won't buy it.
Palm insists on living the life of Amiga. Again and again.
Fact is, despite what the people of Palm have told us, again and again, there was never anything special about the platform. The smartphones never looked that good. The OS wasn't as good as iOS; not even close. Android has Google money. Blackberry is superior and with a large installed base. The new Windows Phone has, well, Windows money. You can still buy Nokia
So when the head of HP Europe boasts about the (still) upcoming TouchPad:
“In the PC world, with fewer ways of differentiating HP’s products from our competitors, we became number one; in the tablet world we’re going to become better than number one. We call it number one plus.” .
You can forgive me for thinking he's doing what so many heads of Europe for big American companies do: which is talk out of his ass.
Addressing rivalries among hardware manufacturers such as Apple, Google and BlackBerry [Europe President] Mr Cador also said that “only one company [HP] plays in both the consumer and business and world. We tend to talk about technologies. But the way the user is going to look at tablets means it’s about experience. The way the corporate is going to look at it is to say that its employees, who are also consumers, have got to like it and it’s got to be secure. We’re going to deliver that. Beyond that, it’s about marketing and branding.”
Since HP hasn't yet taken my advice, I'll repeat myself.
Your problems are many and diverse and your CEO will probably be gone before Carol Bartz is out at Yahoo. Will new guy give Palm/webOS any love?
Here's what you do: Call up Ballmer. Tell him you will make Windows Phone devices. Windows Phone/Windows XX tablets. And, as before, be BFFs for all things Windows. All he has to do is take Palm off your hands for a couple billion or so. Everybody wins. Or at least, HP can stop losing.