“Huawei was approached through its investment bank sometime in mid-February for ‘preliminary discussions,’ the source told Reuters on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the process has not been made public,” Lee reports. “The source said discussions had not since moved forward.”
Lee reports, “A source had earlier told Reuters that Palm had hired bankers to explore several options, including a sale of the company, whose smartphone sales have suffered badly against those of rivals such as Apple’s iPhone.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: What we wrote nearly 15 months ago: Palm’s Pre dog and pony show is nothing more than takeover bait. They simply do not have the resources necessary to create another mobile platform, especially one that is superfluous. If Palm’s Pre is not a ruse, then those responsible are kidding themselves. – MacDailyNews Take, January 21, 2009, just after beleaguered Palm unveiled their Palm Pre and webOS.
Looks like Rosy Palm just isn’t beating anything any more!!
And of course, everyone knows about the world-famous Huawei brand, so the two would have been a perfect match… if only Huawei was interested, which it isn’t. Apparently, Palm approached Huawei over two months ago, and no progress has been made. Looks like Huawei would rather not dilute their famous brand name by acquisition of the questionable Palm…
How low they have sunk…..
Too bad, since I think their OS might have had a chance if they hadn’t dumped it on such crappy hardware. MDN was right, just not enough capital to do it right. It’s interesting to see how potential suitors have not stepped forward. How low will it go?
Also interesting is how Rubinstein failed so miserably in a different environment. Just shows how dependent Apple is on Jobs, or Apple is on their culture instilled by Jobs.
I thought it was Lenovo, not some company with no brand recognition. This is bad news for Palm. PALM stock is headed back down. Huawei Technologies?
Dude, they’re all no name companies, you think Palm’s kickass brand equity helped it any? They tried to sell a touchstone charger for 70 bucks, and people were cutting themselves on the initial Pre units.
Here’s the real problem… Since Palm copied Apple, they had no time to get a great carrier… Apple had the advantage, and got the biggest one of all… by the time the Pre came out, it was slim pickings.. and they picked a TINY company, and did the best they could.
When you come in last to the party, its really hard to get all the free press that Apple gets. That’s how you sell 350,000 iPads in a day sight unseen. Billions and Billions in free advertising.
In fact, you could ALMOST say those ‘billions’ show up somewhere in Apple’s financial statement as a seemingly unstoppable torrent of new money coming in, quarter after quarter, year after year.
Free advertising from the Media
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Free advertising from thrilled customers.
(Not so free advertising in every damn TV show since 2005, apparently)
“rivals such as Apple’s iPhone.”
I wouldn’t exactly call Palm a rival. That’s giving them too much credit.
@Mike
“… When you come in last to the party, its really hard to get all the free press that Apple gets …”
(Unlike Apple, Palm not getting …) “Free advertising from the Media”.
You think for one Newfoundland Nano-Second that the Palm Pre didn’t benefit from millions of dollars worth of free advertising?!
Palm’s plastic chicklet machine was getting awards and iPhone-Killer accolades before a physical Pre was even held in anyone’s hands.
Remember CES 2009?
With nothing more than a features wish-list on a spec sheet, the as-yet-nonexistent Palm Pre won Best of CES, and The People’s Voice Award.
http://ces.cnet.com/8301-19167_1-10139851-100.html
The Anti-Apple, Microsoft-centric media could talk of nothing but the Palm Pre.
The Palm Pre may have died from many factors, but lack of free advertising is not one of them.
How did it fair against the Blackberry, I wonder.
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If Palm has to scrape the bottom of the barrel by seeking out a third-rate Chinese telecom company, then that seems to be a clear indication that those buffoons at ‘Elevation Partners’ are in the process of soiling themselves out of fear of losing everything they sank into Palm.
Hey Roger, get ready to grab the ankles. Putz.
http://www.macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/20358/
MaWo: ‘shot’. As in, ‘Had one, but blew it.’
@wandering joe’s other mac
Nice!
@NHL:
Here, here.
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
Ouch – was this an unintentional backhanded insult to Palm?
“Consumers don’t associate Chinese brands with quality products and don’t pay a premium for such a mobile phone. Palm would be perfect for them.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/idCATOE63C07020100413?rpc=44
Yea we wouldn’t want to insult a company whose stock price is heading to zero and fast….