Nokia and Motorola fighting over Palm?
March 21, 2007 – 10:37 am | by AziziIt’s been a long road for Palm, Inc — its history is full of acquisitions, mergers and demergers. Palm CEO announced last year that “companies don’t get sold, they get bought” — which probably meant that Palm would sell if the right buyer came along. Speculation has been rife lately as to who would buy Palm, with Nokia being most mentioned. The latest news is from Unstrung, which says that four parties are currently in the bidding for Palm. Going up against Nokia are Motorola and two private equity firms, Texas Pacific Group and Silver Lake Partners.
Om Malik presents a good case on why Motorola would be the best fit for Palm. A Nokia Treo would most probably run Symbian, and Malik mentions that Palm’s true strength is in the software expertise.
Us Treo fans probably won’t be much affected in the near term. However, Palm being sold (or being bought, as Colligan would say) would mean an infusion in cash for Palm to take their products to the next level.
4 Responses to “Nokia and Motorola fighting over Palm?”
By Insider on Mar 22, 2007 | Reply
Palm’s buy out is the tale of two companies a “Smartphone” maker –vs- a “Dumbphone maker”
Hands down, no question Motorola – buys Palm and the announcement will most likely be made by the weekend. The buyout is a long time coming and makes perfect sense for both parties, but lets get one thing straight right now. Palm is not in trouble as many have said and do not need to sell. The tiny company that Bill Gates and Microsoft couldn’t even crush is cash rich and stealing business customers away from RIMM every quarter.
For a company that had a multiyear head start, Rimm has done little but rest on their laurels to defend their business turf as I personally know of at least three major corporations in the Charlotte NC area that have made corporate decisions to toss out their blackberry’s in exchange for Treo’s. Palm is on the chopping block because they “WANT TO” sell – not because they “HAVE TO” sell. Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky and the rest of the Palm crew are starting another software company called “Numenta” and that is the only reason for the sale.
Palm is, and always has been one of the most misunderstood companies ever traded. 95% of analysts who are talking about Palm’s increasing competition have no idea what the devices can do or what their company focus is. The term “smartphone” needs to be recalibrated from anything that can ring, organize or email, to devices that can also take video’s, photos, bluetooth and MP3. When you factor ALL of that – Palm stands alone as they only true smartphone among many “dumbphone” makers including Rimm, Nokia and Motorola.
I am well aquatinted with the term “educated idiot” because I employ a few and when I hear some crosseyed analyst down grade Palm every time a new “dumbphone” that can only do two things is unveiled murdering some incoherent thing about increased competition it make me furious! I just don’t think the “so called” analysts understand that Palm never had a desire to be Motorola and advertise their products in Taco Bell to accompany the prom queen’s lipstick as a purse decoration. Palm’s Treo was designed by Jeff Hawkins to compete with the Blackberry in the business world, and compete they certainly have.
Invest, be patient and expect the purchase announcement to be made within seven days……… aheeemm, .”Numenta” anyone??