The Shape Of Things To Come: HP Breaks Rank

“Set aside the fact that HP paid $1.2 billion. The price is not
the issue. Either HP needs to be in this business or it doesn’t. It
is already in the business. It sells Windows Mobile handset But
that’s a “hobby” in Steve Jobs’ terminology. And with the
acquisition of Palm, mobile is no longer a hobby for HP. HP has
decided it has to be a player in the business, and imho, it is
right on the money. In fact, it’s pretty much force majeur. The
gipsy with the crystal ball can’t see a future for HP without a
mobile platform.

“A Platform To Stand On

“Look at HP in perspective. In the past 5 years or so it has
done some things well and some things badly. But there is no
argument that it revived its PC business in the face of fierce
competition from Dell, Acer, Lenovo et al. And the HP guy most
responsible for reviving the PC business is Todd Bradley, who in
his previous incarnation was in charge of hardware at Palm.

“Todd knows exactly what HP is buying and probably has a good
idea of where Palm thought it was going. But Palm was derailed. It
launched the Pre last year to great fanfare and much critical
acclaim. But the praise didn’t morph into market share. Consumers
shrugged – and they have continued to shrug. So Palm put
itself up for sale – following a poor set of quarterly
figures in March, where targets were missed by a mile or more. HP
has stepped in swiftly, beating off Lenovo in the process, so it is
rumored.”

How quickly they forget– Palm’s WebOS is Linux-based
–ed.</>

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