With Palm, HP reboots mobile strategy

With Palm, HP reboots mobile strategy - CNN.com: "With its purchase of Palm, Hewlett-Packard acquired more than just a smartphone maker. It also picked up a whole new strategy for its mobile devices.

HP said Wednesday it plans to acquire Palm for $1.2 billion, or $5.70 per share, which amounts to a 23 percent premium over Palm's actual stock price at the end of the day. But for a leading technology company like HP with almost zero mobile phone presence and $13.5 billion in cash, picking up a company with a fully developed mobile operating system, a decent lineup of devices, and trove of mobile patents is a bargain.

It will also make HP a viable competitor in the growing mobile market.

Mobile phones are now a $100 billion market. There were 182 million smartphones shipped in 2009, and that number is expected to rise to 247 million units this year, according to iSuppli.

HP not getting in on that is unthinkable, particularly since practically all of its major competitors in the consumer space have some sort of mobile strategy. With Palm, HP gets the 10th largest smartphone brand as of the end of last year. Palm's hardware accounted for 1.5 percent of all smartphones, but wasn't growing, according to iSuppli.

By planning to infuse plenty of funding into its new mobile strategy with Palm, HP is expecting 'solid growth' going forward, Todd Bradley, executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group, said on a conference call with investors Wednesday.

It's been years since mobile phones were a priority for HP. Compaq, which was acquired by HP, was an early leader in handhelds, creating the iPaq, the first handheld running Windows CE to get much popularity."

Hewlett-Packard to buy Palm for $1.4B in cash

Hewlett-Packard to buy Palm for $1.4B in cash - U.S. business- msnbc.com: "Palm Inc. a pioneer in the smart phone business that couldn't quite make the comeback it needed, has agreed to be bought out by Hewlett-Packard Co. for about $1.4 billion in cash.

The two Silicon Valley companies announced Wednesday that the deal will see HP pay $5.70 for every Palm common share and certain preferred shares. Palm had closed trading Wednesday at $4.63 but traded as high as $18.09 in the past 52 weeks.

In after-hours trading, Palm shares jumped $1.25, or 27 percent to $5.88 — meaning some investors were willing to bet another suitor will step forward. HP shares dipped 35 cents to $52.93.
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Palm was founded in 1992 by Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins and helped originate the handheld computing market with its Palm Pilot 'personal digital assistants' in the 1990s. But after Palm reshuffled itself repeatedly — it was bought by U.S. Robotics, a modem maker that itself was bought by 3Com Corp. in 1997, and then spun off again as its own company in 2000 — other companies took control of the market.

In recent years, as handheld computers morphed into 'smart phones,' Palm struggled to keep up as consumers flocked to such devices as Apple Inc.'s iPhone and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry. In the past year, phones that use Google Inc.'s Android operating software have added new competition.

Palm got itself into position for a turnaround last June, when it released a sleek touch-screen smart phone called the Pre and fresh operating software for it that won good reviews. But consumers were slow to embrace the Pre and its newer, smaller sibling, the Pixi. In the most recent quarter, Palm sold just 408,000 phones. In its last quarter Apple sold 8.75 million iPhones."

Newest Verizon Wireless Smartphones

From abcnews.com

Verizon's Mike Maiorana shows you the company's latest smartphones.

"iPad Killer" May be Palm's Last Hope

READ more on Yahoo! News

NerdBoyTV NOTE: This is an interesting strategic idea from writer Tony Bradley of PCWorld on how Palm might salvage its company by possibly abandoning the Palm Pre smartphone and instead focus on taking its superior WebOS operating system to build their own "iPad Killer" tablet. What do you think?

"The Apple iPad has captured the imagination--and a fair share of the news headlines for the past few months. Palm has been in the headlines as well, but for entirely different reasons. Perhaps, Palm could reverse its fortunes and regain its former glory if it went back to its PDA roots and developed a tablet PC to compete with the iPad?

Humor me. Let's consider this for a second. Palm's future isn't looking very bright. While a different business strategy may have led to entirely different results, the reality is that Palm is dragging in last place for smartphone market share with little hope of rebounding.

Palm fans are quick to share the belief that it is a superior smartphone platform. Comments from readers on recent articles include:

• 'Palm Pre's multitasking capability is second to none and still holds the best record of maximum simultaneous running apps (Plus). No matter how you look at it, having the ability to run multiple 3rd party applications is far more advanced than iPhone's inability to do the same.'

• 'The Palm Pre is still a superior product and the benefits of WebOS are still undeniable. If you did a poll on the majority of Palm Pre owners, I'm sure you'll find that most will respond positively satisfied.'

• 'I find the iPhone comical next to my Palm Pre. It is true that if all apps remembered where they were at, multi-tasking would be less necessary. However, multi-tasking is still better. I can look up information on my Pre and then use it in another app without closing either of them.'

It seems that those relative few who have the Palm Pre or some other WebOS-based smartphone from Palm not only like it, but passionately believe it is superior--even to the vaunted iPhone. I can't shake the feeling, though, that Palm users sound a lot like IBM OS/2 and Commodore Amiga loyalists clinging to dying technologies as the ship is going down.

Palm has a proud heritage, though. Before the BlackBerry was the 'CrackBerry', the Palm PDA was a ubiquitous business tool. Business professionals had to have a Palm to sync up calendar events and contact databases. Prior to the convergence of the two to create the concept of smartphones, a Palm PDA was a required companion to the cell phone for mobile business professionals."

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Palm Pre Full Review (via CNET)

SHOW #77 - NerdBoyTV: RealPlayer SP (beta)

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee demos the RealPlayer SP (beta) and shows how to convert YouTube videos to play on your iPod, Blackberry, or Palm Pre.

CNET Prizefight: iPhone 3G S vs. Palm Pre vs. Original iPhone 3G

Today on CNET TV: Sunday, June 14, 2009

Palm hopes to turn a corner with new CEO

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Ringtone Expressions & NerdBoyTV sponsoring ringtone contest

Everyday, you have special people that you talk to on your phone. Having a unique ringtone for Mom, Dad, Significant Other, Baby Mama, etc. would make your life more fun ;-) There are many songs you could "apply" to these people when they call your phone. CLICK on this link for examples.

Ringtone Expressions wants to see your creativity run wild. Their team will determine the 10 best ringtone creations with each winning a free subscription to Ringtone Expressions; the two top choices will each with a $200 gift certificate toward a shiny new Palm Pre.

Please review the rules for more details. Contest ends on June 15th at 12 noon EST. Good luck and have fun creating ringtones!

SHOW #72 - NerdBoyTV: RingtoneExpressions.com

In this episode of NerdBoyTV, Ryan Yee demos how to create ringtones easily and inexpensively using a terrific service called RingtoneExpressions.com. For only $1.99 per month (the price of a single ringtone on many services), you can create an unlimited number of cool ringtones and send them via SMS to your cellphone or connect a cable directly to the phone to download them.

If you're REALLY creative in creating ringtones, you may want to participate in the RingtoneExpressions Contest—it could win you a new Palm Pre or equivalent.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS. Also, please review the rules. Good luck to you!

Battle of the smartphones: Preview of the Palm Pre

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Palm Pre to challenge iPhone?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Top Smart Phones

The Top Smart Phones - Yahoo! Shopping

"By most measures, iPhone owners should have been pleased last year when Apple sped up the phone, slashed its price and introduced a revolutionary App Store. But ask iPhone users how they would improve the device and most will have suggestions at the ready, including a longer-lasting battery, a higher-quality camera and cut-and-paste functionality.

The same is true of every phone on the market. No matter how many features manufacturers manage to pack into their pocket-sized devices, consumers inevitably want more — or less — or something just a bit different.

So, how does the current crop of smart phones measure up?"

Hot gadgets at CES: Browser cam, LED TV, new Palm

Hot gadgets at CES: Browser cam, LED TV, new Palm - Life & Style - The State: "Although the International Consumer Electronics Show was smaller than it was last year because of the economic doldrums, there were still interesting new gadgets on display before the exhibition wound down Sunday. Here are some of the most attention-grabbing."

The best of CES 2009 : Christopher Null

The best of CES 2009 : Christopher Null : Yahoo! Tech: "As expected, CES was a quieter show this year than usual -- but that's not such a bad thing. Cab lines have been short. There's less pushing and shoving. You can get a seat in the press room (miracle!). And you can actually see stuff in the booths instead of just the backs of other people's heads.

But ask around -- or just ask me -- and some clear favorites have emerged as the 'best' of CES 2009. In fact, though there are fewer people doing the buzzing, they're buzzing louder than ever about some really impressive gear. To wit: Here are my picks for the must-see gadgets on the CES show floor 2009."

Palm gets back into the game with touchscreen Pre, WebOS

Palm gets back into the game with touchscreen Pre, WebOS : Ben Patterson : Yahoo! Tech

"Palm was under serious pressure to hit a home run at CES today—and boy, did it deliver. Running Palm's gorgeous (if belated) new platform, dubbed WebOS, the touchscreen Pre could well be Palm's savior, and perhaps its biggest hit.

So, as for the Pre itself (due on Sprint in the first half of this year, no pricing yet): It's got a big, 3.1-inch 480 by 320 touch display (yes, with multitouch and an accelerometer), weighs in at 4.8 ounces, and comes with a curved, slide-out keypad. Yes, it does Wi-Fi and 3G (EV-DO Rev. A, to be exact), as well as GPS (with turn-by-turn directions courtesy of TeleNav), stereo Bluetooth, 8GB of internal storage, a 3MP camera, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a removable battery."