TechRadar, among others, have written to suggest that Microsoft should buy Palm.
The reasons are simple, namely that Palm has a rich history of owning some pretty important mobile patent portfolios and, lets not forget - the much praised Palm Pre itself. Such people reason that Microsoft's possible acquisition of Palm would help to energize it's not so elegant Windows Mobile platform, and who knows, maybe it would?
TechRadar wrote that:
"Andrew Kitson, senior analyst with Juniper Research, suggests that a Microsoft smartphone would be a nice thing to sell in Microsoft's forthcoming retail stores." and they further reported that, "If the Pre doesn't sell truckloads, Palm's days may be numbered. "Somebody's going to buy it before it goes under, or they might wait until Palm expires, stroll in and buy the assets they really want at a knock down price," Kitson says. "But it could take a couple of years [for that]. Can Microsoft wait that long? Not with Acer, Dell et al piling into the market."
Well, I certainly agree that getting their hands on Palm's patent portfolio, and it's engineering talent, and the Pre would be of great value to Microsoft and, as well, to many other company's out there. In fact, Dell's name has come up numerous times as a company that would benefit greatly from any Palm acquisition.
Palm's stock, as of this writing, though up considerably thanks to the Pre, is still only trading for around $11.74, giving it a market cap of barely $1.59 billion. To you or me, well that's a hefty chunk of nickels and quarters, but to Microsoft, Dell, HP and others enormous companies, well that's nothing more than pocket change and that brings up something, that as least as far as I know of, no one has ever mention before - the possibility of Apple buying Palm!
Thats right, my dear two or three readers - Apple! Think about it, not only would Apple be able to kill off any competition from the Pre, but it would also acquire in the process all of those patents that Palm threatened it would use against Apple if it ever decided to take legal action against it for violating it's iPhone's multi-touch patents, patents that Palm has arrogantly thumbed it's nose at in such a brazen manner!
Not only would Apple pick up all of Palm's previous patents, but it would automatically acquire the newer ones, you know the ones that give the Pre it's few and unique advantages over that of the iPhone! Apple could take apart anything that they saw or liked about Palm's new WebOS, for instance, and then easily incorporate it into the iPhone's OS! Yes, even though the Pre isn't as capable or as desirable as the iPhone itself, it none-the-less does have some unique assets, and assets that Apple might possibly be able to use to it's advantage and better the iPhone overall in the process.
It also can't be discounted that it would also be sweet revenge for what some see as John Rubenstein's betrayal of Steve Jobs. Steve's old pal would be history in any Apple take over of Palm! Whether or not Apple would dismiss the other some 250 other engineers that John Rubenstein help to poach from Apple, I'm not sure? After all, after John is dismissed, one thing that we can't dismiss is that he may try and do the same thing all over again with another of Apple's competitors like he did at Palm, therefore, I tend to think that Apple might just be better off keeping a lot of these smaller fish in it's own tank.
Remember too, that Apple has NO Debts and a mountain of cash - approximately some $3o BILLION of it in the bank, and thus making it easy as apple pie for Apple to pay for any acquisition of Palm. Inc. Personally, I'm not sure if Apple would even want Palm in the first place, but frankly I would much rather see Palm's assets in it's hands rather than lets say one of it's competitors such as Microsoft, RIM, Nokia, or whom have you? Keeping Palm from it's main competitors, and especially Microsoft, is something that I think Apple would surely need and want to do.
So, might Steve's next "Oh, one last thing" be that of Apple buying it's much smaller foe, Palm Inc.? I don't know, but I do tend to think that it makes a lot of sense and for several good reasons, and I personally would love to see it happen; how about you?
And that's my 2 cents 4 this Monday, June 08, 2009
Palm Pre and Apple iPhone pic via: Pre Central
3 comments:
I see trouble ahead for Palm.
I don't see success instead ... I see a slow death (Before the Pre ... It was going to be this year)
Market cap may be 1.6B but debt is high and creditors are many ... nearly doubling that figure.
Palm has lots of obsolete patents as well ... ones no one else will copy.
At this point I think Apple intends to sit on its cash and draw interest ... relying on their own sensibilities for new products.
I say that the next industry they go after is automobile.
Thanks Philip, you make a good point. However, even though I personally think that the iPhone, especially the new G3S, is a much better phone and for many good reasons, a lot of people are hoping that the Pre will hit Apple hard.
The last thing I want to see is Microsoft, Nokia, or RIM getting their hands on the Pre. Maybe Palm is small and desperate, but Microsoft, RIM and Nokia are not - they got the money, manpower and ability to turn the Pre into a much bigger threat than it already is!
It's better for Apple to take on the Pre under Palm, then to have to take on the Pre under Microsoft, etc.
Thanks Philip, you make a good point. However, even though I personally think that the iPhone, especially the new G3S, is a much better phone and for many good reasons, a lot of people are hoping that the Pre will hit Apple hard.
The last thing I want to see is Microsoft, Nokia, or RIM getting their hands on the Pre. Maybe Palm is small and desperate, but Microsoft, RIM and Nokia are not - they got the money, manpower and ability to turn the Pre into a much bigger threat than it already is!
It's better for Apple to take on the Pre under Palm, then to have to take on the Pre under Microsoft, etc.
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