It’s been hinted at for months and now it appears to be true – Palm is up for sale. According to Bloomberg, Palm has tapped Goldman Sachs and Qatalyst Partners to help them find a buyer. HTC and Lenovo are said to be the frontrunners but all parties have declined to comment. Palm’s market value is ~$870.8 million with shares currently trading at $5.85, up 13 percent on rumors of the sale.
I’d hate to see Palm go to Lenovo, but HTC makes sense (pun intended). HTC has a long road ahead of them with an impending legal battle with Apple that could last months. Palm’s been around the block longer than both and its array of patents could be HTC’s backdoor exit from the whole fiasco.
Having been a fan of webOS since its initial unveil at CES 2009, I hope to all hell that Palm finds a buyer that doesn’t kill webOS. It is, without a doubt, the most innovative smartphone OS currently available on the market since, you know, it actually handles true multitasking. The hardware, unfortunately, can’t keep up. But HTC makes some gorgeous hardware, which is Palm’s one downfall.
Let’s see how this plays out over the next couple of weeks.