HP buys beleaguered Palm: Everyone’s a loser but Apple

“Not even a year ago Palm and its chief investor, Elevation Partners, confidently spun a yarn about the pioneering company’s long-term plan. The smartphone market was nascent. It was going to be massive. Even a small share of such a big market would lead to huge success for a smaller player like Palm,” Adam Lashinsky writes for Fortune. “Unfortunately for Palm, while the first two legs of its narrative stool are correct, the third isn’t, which is why Palm folded Wednesday with its fire-sale purchase by Hewlett-Packard.”

Let this be a cautionary tale for all sorts of reasons:

• Managerial hubris. The bitter pill for Rubinstein will be that he wasn’t able to accomplish on his own what he was under the tutelage of Steve Jobs. There is no shame in this. Almost no one has accomplished what Steve Jobs has. To try was valiant. To pull it off proved another story.
• Investor hubris.
• No company can do everything: By buying Palm, HP gets very good technology, some outstanding people, and existing carrier contracts. HP in turn will be able to throw its considerable marketing and purchasing power behind Palm’s phones. HP is years behind Apple, though. Apple, again, is the sole unconditional winner. At least for now.

Full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: “HP’s acquisition of Palm means that not only is HP sick and tired of being stuck with and dependent upon perpetual laggard Microsoft, but, more importantly, yet another smartphone/slate PC OS will live to confuse the market. This will significantly benefit the one company that has repeatedly proven its ability to distinguish itself above all others: Apple. The more confused the marketplace, the faster customers will flock to Apple’s trusted brand and quality products.” – MacDailyNews Take, April 28, 2010

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Robert S.” for the heads up.]